What Can Be Found in the Mud and Rain
by Hiei'sTreeHuggingGirlfriend
Summary: Gilan made an interesting discover on his way home one day. Now he's running from a cavalry from an unknown land, jumping off cliffs, and that doesn't even begin to describe what trouble he's gotten himself into!Can he survive this? Gilan X OC eventually
1. Gilan

The edited version that I should've done a LOOOOOONG time ago. Opps.~~~~

It was raining. The drops came down as a steady stream, soaking the earth that lay below it. However, the world below took this seemingly gray, dim rain with a certain degree of eagerness. The trees below could hardly survive on anything else, and this was the first downpour of rain these mighty beings had for some weeks now. The clouds had been about for about a week or so now, so it seemed about time that rain should finally fall to the earth.

Still, despite this fact that was so very clear to most anyone, it did nothing to stop this young Ranger from being totally and completely irritable about his current situation.

" One day, Blaze," he muttered in a low voice, " just one day from home and it has to start raining NOW of all times." Blaze was the horse that this young Ranger road and spoke to at the current time. No one else was with them, as it should be for the solitary life that all Rangers had within their fiefs. The mare tossed her head, as if to say that this was a shared opinion by her as slightly, the Ranger touched his horses neck lovingly.

" Come on, let's hurry home. It'll be warm there." he encouraged his mount, thinking that he was starting to crave a cup of coffee. The horse and rider move onward still, as the rain continued to soak all the world around them both. Even in his Ranger's cloak, the rain had seeped through to make the young man's skin prickle some time ago. He was more then looking forward for a new set of clothes.

Having dealt with a few robbers who'd been taking from any sort of traveler whom was so unfortunate as to pass by the roads just along the roads next to Meric Fief, it had been a fitful day until the down pour that had begun to wash the earth below when he was half a day's ride from his home. It wasn't until some few hours ago that the rain had begun to drop at the steady pace as it did at the current time. A rather unkind thing for mother nature to do to him, as he saw , this was right funny to this young Ranger, but he was still displeased with the rain, even so.  
Looking up, he noted that it didn't appear that the rain would stop anytime soon and gave a sigh. Then something caught his eye. Turning, he got Blaze to stop in place as his eyes searched the forest to his left. Nothing immediate stood out to him. It looked as it should.

However, he was trained to look closer, see what lay in the shadows and the throngs of darkness. Gazing around, scanning all the ground where the flicker had originated, he didn't move his head. No, only his eyes moved, hidden beneath the coil of his hood. Puzzled, he turned slightly back towards Blaze. The mare's ears were pricked and alert now. Patting her neck, he was about to ease Blaze back into a slow walk when it happened again. Just from the corner of his eye he could make out the flicker of movement. There was something there. He knew that now for certain fact. What was it? That was the real question, wasn't it? He shifted slightly,trying to keep the movement casual as he moved his Ranger's cloak aside so he could reach his arrows. The bow lay across his lap, strung, but it always was, no surprise there. Blaze made a few, half nay half grunting sort of sounds as he shifted. Once he'd settled himself again, he patted the mare's neck once again.

" I know, it's been a long day, hasn't it?" he spoke to the horse, soothingly,acknowledging the signs she gave him with a stroke to her neck. "Come on, let's go." he ushered the horse forwards, taking her only a far enough away to make it appear that he'd moved on. Then he slide from the saddle to the ground, his feet hardly making a sound as he touched earth.

" Take care, I'm going to check things out." Blaze's knowing eyes fell on him, and then the Ranger moved on, carefully stepping. This was his specialty, Blaze need not worry about her Ranger for the time being. Besides, the threat had seemed quite minimal to her.

The Young Ranger moved without a sound to be heard, backtracking the way he had come. His bow was in hand. He needed to be ready in case something went wrong as things often did, he noted, wistfully. Moving without being seen, that was his best skill, no matter in rain or shine, and that was how he moved along in the trees, finally finding the spot he'd stopped with Blaze. Holding the bow at a ready position, the Ranger slid an arrow free for swift use, then moved forwards were the movement had been before. And there it was again! Instantly he froze in place. Long years of training had made this less of a reaction then a reflex in and of itself. He waited, not daring to move a single muscle or take refuge as a rookie would do. Oh no, he'd learned that lesson a long time ago. His master almost had his head mounted on the wall for that screw up. No more. Then the movement continued now, unlike before. Still he remained stock still, waiting despite the cold and wet.

His efforts were rewarded, he got the answer to his question.

It was a person. The Ranger was still now from curiosity rather then reflex anymore. The rain obscured the figure slightly, and he did his best to blink the rain from his eyes. It was someone fairly young, maybe a few years into his work with a craft master the Ranger estimated. However, the young man was poorly clothed, mud smeared on once white tunic, and as for the true color of the boy's breeches, well, that was any ones guess the pants were so coated with boy's hair was surprisingly long and hanging about his head in messy tendrils. Crouching, the boy looked around. Checking to see if anyone was around to see him was the Ranger's guess. It explained the earlier, minimal movements made by the boy. The boy was hiding. From what the Ranger wondered. Seeing no one, the boy came into the open, slipping once as his boots were worse off for mud then his pants, which was saying a lot. Cautiously, the boy began to head right towards the frozen Ranger. The Ranger waited still, anxiously, panic welling up within him for a moment until he forced it down and out of his mind for the time being. Still, the boy came closer and closer, getting so near the Ranger without actually seeing the other man that the Ranger halted his breath to prevent himself from being discovered. It was at this spot next to the Ranger that the boy stopped moving for a second or two.

" Hello?" there was a rich accent in the boy's voice that the Ranger couldn't distinguish. Despite that the boy didn't seem to see him, the boy obviously felt like something was there and he knew it. The Ranger looked over the boy without moving his head, moving only his eyes. The kid was clearly exhausted, he was still struggling to gain his breath, and the pain filled face seemed to point the Ranger to believe he'd been straining himself this day. " Hello?" he asked again with a voice laced with fear, but also a certain degree of intensity. The boy would fight, the Ranger could see, if it came down to that. However, it would hardly be fair for a well rested Ranger to take on this weary eyed person. The Ranger wasn't totally sure if he was actually dealing with as young a boy as he thought. Perhaps this person was older then he realized by the look of his tired face.

" I know you're there," the boy now said shifting about, looking for him, even though he was already within a few feet of the one he saute to find," I can feel your eyes watching me. Come out! Now!" The Ranger didn't move still, trying to decide if he should reveal himself or not. Worn as he was, the boy seemed almost hysterical to the Young Ranger. It could hardly be safe to show himself if the boy was going to attack him. " If it's a fight you want, I'll give it to you!" he snarled on while the Ranger still debated what his coarse of action should be. What the boy said next, however, made the Ranger's decision much easier for him. " Although, I do hope it's not a fight you're looking for." He said it more to himself then to his hidden enemy.

Now this young Ranger realized it. The boy was barely able to hold himself up right. It was a right miracle that the boy was even walking around like he was.

" COME OUT! NOW!"

" If you insist." the Ranger finally spoke up. The boy leaped into the air in fright and bounced away from the Ranger very clumsily taking up a defensive stance. The boy watched the Ranger, somewhat unsure of what to do next. The Ranger stood without any sort of threatening look about him. But the boy could see the bow and arrow in his hands, and the knives at his belt.

" I knew you were there." the boy said, and the Ranger nodded.

" I realize."

" Who are you?"

" I could ask you the same." the Ranger's replies were all very crisp and definite. The boy pursed his lip, thoughtfully. What was next. He nodded his head toward the Ranger now.

" You first." he insisted, stubbornly. The Ranger's head tilted, and the boy's weak body tensed before his very eyes. Sticking the arrow down into the ground, the Ranger leaned his bow against the tree behind him, then leaned against the same tree, observing the boy again through the obscurity of the rain.

" Then you'll do the same for me?" he asked back, and the boy took a moment to consider it.

" It depends what you tell me." was his careful reply. The boy was cautious. He was not to be taken lightly, the Ranger realized. Slowly, the Ranger nodded. " You're one of those Rangers I've heard about, aren't you?" the boy startled the Ranger. A dry smile fell across the boy's lips, hollow and forbidding as he noted the reaction. " You are, then. I overheard a conversation about you guys. They say you dabble in the arts of black magic." The Ranger now smiled, with equally little from gladness as the young boy before him now.

" So they say of we Rangers." he replied, in a rather unhelpful reply.

" I don't believe them." the boy answered.

" Oh?" asked the Ranger, a bit of mockery in his voice, adding more thoughtfully. " What makes you think that?" The boy shrugged slightly. " After all, I did just appear out of nowhere right before your eyes." The boy frowned slightly, standing upright as he brushed the cobwebs from his mind and thought this over a moment. The boy was a thinker. The Ranger was starting to take a liking to the boy already.

" You used a trick to come out of nowhere like that. I don't believe in that sort of gossip. It's not a reliable way to judge people." the boy answered, shaking his head at the Ranger. The Ranger's brows shot up as he looked at the boy.

" A trick? What sort of trick?" he asked and the boy became frustrated with him right away.

" If I knew then I wouldn't have fallen for it!" he snapped back at him, and the Ranger held up his hands as if he were saying 'I was just asking!' Then, all at once, the boy began to sway on his feet. The Ranger moved to help him, but the boy held up his hand so that the Ranger stayed where he was at. The boy brought his hand to his head, panting, then shook his head. Trying to clear his blurry thoughts.

" Are you alri-?" the Ranger began to ask.

" I'm fine!" he snarled back, but stumbled just after he said it. And when the Ranger moved again, once more the boy held up his hand and the Ranger halted in place again. Shaking his head again the boy said. " Just stay there, alright! I don't want you near me!" The Ranger got a hurt look on his face, then leaned against the tree where his bow rested once again.

" Okay." he said, simply, as the chill brought a shiver to run up his spine. Thunder sounded in the clouds above them. The Ranger glanced up and around at the storm that was still coming, as it seemed now.

" This rain isn't going to stop for awhile now. It'd be more comfortable at my home. It's not fair from here. We could talk there." he said, trying to appeal to the boy's need for a dry place to stay until the storm blew over. However, the boy was very smart about this whole situation, or, at least, for his own safety during the situation.

" No, just shut up, alright?" he insisted in a snarl back, as he kept his hand held to his head now. Trying to keep his thoughts clear and comprehend what the Ranger was saying was becoming more difficult by the second. " Just let me think this through first!" he insisted, as clearly the Ranger had yet to convince him.

Sure, the Ranger could easily overpower the boy without killing him and just force the boy to come with him. However, if he could, the Ranger would rather get the boy to come along without a fuss or argument. So, he waited for the boy to think. However, fate seemed determined to interfere in this entire affair, for the boy wavered once more. Groping for a moment, the boy found a close tree and leaned against it, holding his spinning head with both hands as he barely stood upright anymore. The Ranger moved to help, and the boy persistently denied his help for the third time. He could take it no longer.

" Would you just come with me?" he exclaimed, earnestly. " My house is only a short ways away, I even have a horse, you wouldn't even have to walk there! Just come on!" The Ranger came right up to the boy this time. The boy had sunk all the way to his knees, and the Ranger knelt beside him.

" I- don't even- know you-" the boy's voice quivered as it seemed a struggle for him to even form words. The Ranger became hugely frustrated, collecting the boy into his arms without a single struggle from the boy he was so weak. Frowning, the Ranger noted how light the boy was.

" I'll bet you haven't eaten or slept in days. That's like asking to get killed, boy," the Ranger shook his head, " you seemed smarter then that to me, what's with you?"

"- I tried- in a bit of a- hurry-" the boy insisted back to him and the Ranger began to walk back towards his horse now, the boy gathered comfortably into his arms after he'd collected his bow and arrow from the ground.

" What the hell for? Whatever your in a hurry for can certainly wait until you take care of yourself." he said. Obviously he knew that there was the other reason to keep moving without caring for food and sleep first, and that was if someone was chasing after this boy. However, he wouldn't mention this now, just so that the boy would come with him for some care. Then he remembered what the boy said before. " I'm Gilan. Now you know me" he added, and before he even reached Blaze the boy had fallen to a wet, mud covered sleep.~~

All Fixed!


	2. Aaron

Yeah, I had some trouble editing this. T-T Either way, new chapter. Enjoy. Read and Review please. Any and all feed back is allowed and much appreciated. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The world returned again to his eyes. He blinked once, to be sure that he was seeing everything correctly. He was. That was a ceiling above his head. An actually ceiling. And there was a blanket thrown over him. It was made of rough material, and was plain brown, but it was a blanket. Slowly, he inched slightly further under the covers, delightfully warm. This proved to be a mistake as every muscle and fiber within his whole entire person screamed in protest of the movement.  
" Uhg." he muttered, sad to find that this familiar feeling was still with him. Sitting up ever so slowly, he only frowned at the feeling of his sore muscles. Certainly he'd prefer to stay under the warmth of the blanket as long as he could, but this was a strange place to him. He wanted to know where he was, how he got here. Investigate the place, so to speak. Getting to his feet he found his boots had been removed, but the mud coated pants and shirt were still on him.

" I tried to clean you up as best I could."the sudden voice made the boy jolt in fright. Whipping around, he caught sight of the Ranger. He'd chosen a shadowy spot at the entrance of the room. " I figured you wouldn't appreciate a stranger changing your clothes for you while you slept." The man half laughed at the boy from the corner of the room.  
" I never heard you enter." he said, somewhat stiff. The Ranger shrugged to him.  
" Most don't hear or see us. It's a Ranger thing." he said, still smiling at his uneasy guest. The boy shifted, awkwardly at this point. " In case you were wondering this is my spare bedroom your in, borrowing some of my extra sleeping things." he indicated the blanket. " It's made of rough material, but certainly makes for a good, warm night sleep, don't you think?" To this, the boy couldn't deny, that the Ranger was right. He felt well refreshed. Better then he'd felt in a very long time, despite some pain.

The Ranger threw some things to the boy now. The boy juggled the few objects, but caught them all despite that. " There's a place to clean yourself out in back. Change into those clothes once your clean and wash your own. There's a line on the right side of the building where you can hang them to dry." The Ranger told him, directing the boy by pointing to what he meant along the way. " We can eat and talk once you've done all of that." The boy looked a bit overwhelmed, and so took the objects without a question and did as he was told right away. Before he did, however, the boy turned to the Ranger on his way out the door.  
" Can you take your hood down, please?" he requested, and the Ranger thought this an odd thing to ask. Even so, Gilan slid the hood off his head, so that the boy could observe him with a keen set of, what Gilan just noticed, green eyes. He shrugged his shoulders at the boy.  
" That better?" he asked, laughing a bit. The boy looked Gilan over again, then nodded once. The boy kept a straight face as he took in the features of Gilan's face and form as a whole now. Then he gave a quick smile, that vanished as quickly as it appeared.  
" Much better." the boy said, then walked away, leaving a rather befuddled Gilan standing in the door frame of the formally unoccupied space, watching the young boy leave. ~~~~~~

Gilan heard the boy coming from inside his house, but he didn't look up when the boy joined him on the porch of his cabin. The boy seemed tense, almost on edge as he shifted uneasily behind Gilan. " Feeling better?" asked Gilan and the boy jolted slightly. This brought a grin to Gilan's face and he chuckled, lightly. " I'm not going to hurt you. If I wanted to hurt you, I would've by now, don't you think?"  
" Not necessarily," was the boy's reply, as he decided to take a seat next to Gilan on the porch, " you could just want to use me before you get rid of me." Gilan frowned at the boy now, gesturing around.  
" Use you for what? Cleaning the house? It's small enough as is. Cleaning the stable? Blaze wouldn't let you near her without me there anyways." he continued, but the boy was persistent in his argument.  
" There are other uses of people, I'm not ignorant, you know?" was the boy's answer, but gave a half-smile towards Gilan. " You don't seen bad to me, though." Gilan chuckled and the young man held back his laughs.  
" I'm glad you approve." Gilan said, grinning widely, really taking in the boy's appearance now. He was a bit underweight, and very slight of figure. 16 or 17 years old, the boy might have been mistaken for a small man in his early 20s if not looked upon closely. In fact, the boy had such a serious and weathered face and body that he would've easily convinced someone he was over 20 if the thought ever stuck the boy. The boy had black hair,but it was long enough he tied it high up and out of his way.  
Gilan couldn't help but muse about the boy's small size. It reminded him of his master, Halt. He mused that Halt may have looked just like this boy when he had been this age. Forcing back a laugh, Gilan thought of a 17 year old Halt with a huge grin. His eyes flicked to the boy; He could only grin more. Yeah, Halt would look just like that, except more grim. And his hair would be shorter and jagged. The boy looked at him, befuddled, and Gilan finally let out his laughter all at once.  
" I'm sorry," he giggled behind the hand he'd previously been trying to hide his grinning behind. The boy tilted his head at Gilan, confused," you remind me of someone I know," he laughed more now, but calmed down after a moment or two and taking a deep breath to sigh out the end of his sentence," ha, I'm never going to be able to look at my Master with a straight face ever again now . . ." he continued to giggle.  
" Sorry." the boy apologized, but Gilan waved his hand at the young man.  
" No, no, it's fine," he gasped slightly, not realizing just how funny the thought had been to him, easing his laughter down to a grin, " I'm always up for a good laugh." Taking a few moments to fully compose himself, Gilan asked. " What's your name?" The boy looked at him, uncomprehendingly for a moment or so.  
" My name?" he asked. Gilan raised his brows at the boy, finding it hard to believe the boy didn't understand what his question meant.  
" Yeah," he spoke slowly to the boy," your name, what people call you? I can't very well call you 'boy' all the time, can I?" then he thought it over a moment. " Well, I could, but that just wouldn't be proper." he shook his head and frowned, then smiled again with a shrug. he was rewarded with a half smile from the boy next to him.  
" It's Aaron." the boy informed Gilan, whom gave an approving nod, then stuck out his hand.  
"I'm Gilan, and this here is Meric Fief, of coarse, I'm assuming you're not sure where you are." Gilan said thoughtfully. Aaron gave a grin, looking around himself at the place he found he was in now.

" You'd be right, Gilan," he tested the name, addressing his rescuer, slowly, looking around," but this is in Araluen, right? The land that King Duncan resides over?"

" Hey, you're not totally and helplessly lost." Gilan told him cheerfully. Aaron laughed a single, dry laugh.  
" Yeah, well, at least not helplessly lost. Totally is still possible." he answered the older man, plainly. " I was supposed to be heading toward Redmont Fief . . .or Castle Araluen . . . I dunno which now that I think about it." Gilan frowned, thinking.

" You're from the Continent?" he asked the boy. Aaron shrugged slightly.

" Looked like some bad marshes to my left when I got dropped here. Came in from Gallica, across the Narrows, and the ship men told me to head around the marshes. I did, more or less, but I had trouble finding my way from there." Aaron explained to Gilan, whom was thinking this over.

" Must have been the Fens that you saw." Gilan informed Aaron thoughtfully. " How did you miss the way to Castle Araluen? You went right past it on ended up here." Aaron's head hung with shame and he sighed. The boy began to mutter what sounded like curses under his breath. When Gilan listened close he realized that Aaron was speaking Gallican. " You speak Gallican?" Aaron shifted slightly at this question, not looking Gilan in the face with embarrassment.  
" I spent some time in Gallica before I came here." he answered, sheepish, and quiet voiced." I had to work to get money for the ship service over here. Its hard to communicate with customers at a bar without knowing some of the language." Gilan nodded once to him, fully curious about young Aaron's situation and intention. It might be well worth looking into, or that's what his instincts were telling him. He heeded what his instincts told him when he had some sort of gut feeling. However a movement caught his eyes, one that wasn't as simple as a small move of a branch that a bird made. Gilan let his gaze move about, searching for its source.  
" Relax." Aaron suddenly said, catching Gilan off guard.  
" Pardon?" Gilan asked, and Aaron met the older man's eyes. This boy really did remind Gilan of a young version of Halt, even to the cool, reassuring eyes of someone with experience. It seemed out of place on Aaron's face, however.

" Relax," Aaron repeated himself. Looking forwards, calm as could be, Aaron let out a long.  
high pitched whistle that seemed to echo out and around the two of them for miles, though it obviously didn't. Then, out of the trees, clopping along and chewing a tangle of dark green mosses, was a tall black stallion. The horse walked casually toward the hut tucked in the woods, " that a boy, come on," spoke Aaron as the horse came right up to him, sticking its nose right out to him, " that a boy, you're so good," the horse gave a snort and Aaron smiled a bit as he stroked the only white spot on the nose, forming a diamond just above its dark eyes, " this is my horse, Rurin." Aaron informed Gilan, whom was observing the docile horse. Aaron stroked the horse, checking the animal over. " I see you found a way to sustain yourself in my absence, Rurin." the horse merely continued contently munching on the moss while Aaron gave him a pat. " Ah, off you go, that a boy." The horse tossed its head in acknowledgement, and clopped a few yards away then lay down.  
" You brought your horse along after you?" Gilan asked, quite befuddled by the horse's lack of a saddle or reins. Aaron's eyes hit the wood of the porch again before he answered.

" He's the only thing I have left to my name right now." he mumbled, humbly, then added." I had a hunting bow and arrows up until yesterday, but I dropped it by mistake." he gave a sigh,looking disappointed but not totally disheartened by the whole matter.  
" I'm sorry." Gilan apologized, but Aaron simply shrugged it off.  
" 'The world is always darkest before the dawn'," was his quoted reply, rewarding him with an increasingly curious look from Gilan, " a wise man told me that once. It sounded so true I never forgot it." Gilan nodded slowly to this.  
" Still, that's rough." Gilan replied sympathetically, but Aaron just shrugged again at him.  
" I can handle it," he insisted back, then added after thinking," I've been riding Rurin bare back, I'm not just leading him along after me." Gilan's brows rose, doubt in his eyes. " Seriously, I can show you." Aaron said, almost eagerly. Gilan threw his arms out.  
" Be my guest." he said and Aaron smirked slightly at him.  
" I already am, where did you think I got these clothes?" he said and Gilan frowned in a way that suggested a joke was being made. " Rurin, up you go, boy." Aaron says, and the stallion get to its feet with a grunt of disapproval. Aaron whistled a lo note that was soft and soothing in tone. Rurin settled down. And, right before Gilan's shocked eyes, the boy lifted himself easily from the ground over the horse's tall form. Dangling for a moment, Aaron swings his leg over the big chest of the beast then sat upright, as though riding with a saddle. The stallion moved a few paces forwards and Aaron gave a full grin at Gilan astride the horse. It was a bright smile, and Gilan thought for the first and certainly not the last time, that the smile was a particularly bright one because it was so rare. This was a true smile of Aaron's. After all, the smiles and grins previously hadn't reached Aaron's cool eyes, this time it did. " It's a little uncomfortable, but its withstand able. I like it, honestly."

" Oh . . ." Gilan answered, somewhat unsure of himself. As awkward silence stretched between the two for a few moments. " What business do you have in Redmont and Castle Araluen, if you don't mind me asking?" Aaron took a moment, lowering then plopping himself onto the ground. He was delaying to get time to think, Gilan knew. Aaron stroked the black, dust covered coat of the stallion, then patted the horse as it meandered away to lay down once more. Still he was silent for a few moments. Then Aaron resolved.  
" I'm-" his voice squeaked, so he cleared his throat so that he sounded normal as he went on, " - I"m supposed to be delivering a message to these three different people from my master." Aaron took a deep breath before gong on. " One to someone in Redmont, another to someone in Castle Araluen. As for the third one," he added, seeing Gilan was about to ask about it," I'm supposed to ask the one I give the message to in Redmont to direct me to the where abouts of the third person." Gilan nodded understanding, interested now.  
" Do you have the names of who you're looking for?" he asked, hand to his chin. Aaron looked glum, and he sighed at a memory that felt like so long ago.

" No," he replied in failure," he told me that he couldn't speak their names to me aloud or write them down for the security of the three of them. Told me to commit the clues and messages to memory."

" And?" Gilan prompted Aaron, whom still chose not to meet the man's gaze. He shook his head.  
" I've a poor memory under pressure." he replied, helplessly, and Gilan looked at him in horror.

" How are you supposed to find them if you don't remember the clues?!" he exclaimed back and Aaron shrank from the hard tone the older man used. Then Gilan, realizing he'd crossed the line on this one, sighed and shook his head. " No, I'm sorry. It just sounds like your plan is half made. That makes me uneasy." Aaron nodded in turn to him.  
"My master knew I don't have a good memory when I'm under pressure. All he told me is that I would remember when I needed to. That and I'd recognize them when I saw them." he said, shaking his head slightly. Clearly, Aaron wasn't completely confident in himself or his mission. However, he certainly was determined with all of the efforts Gilan had heard from the boy.

" He's certainly given you a vote of confidence." Gilan said, smiling to Aaron.

" He always does."  
" Is he right to trust you?"  
" Uh, sort of yeah." Aaron said. Gilan didn't like the sound of that answer.  
" 'Sort of'?" Those words certainly didn't sound good in a simple yes or no question for Gilan currently. Aaron nodded, frowning profoundly. This worried Gilan, more then he ever thought possible from a single look made by a person.  
" Yeah, well, he was always right, but never in the way I quite expected." he mentioned half to Gilan, half to himself, as if just realizing that this happened to him all the time with his master. Yeah, Gilan was nervous now. Just then, a loud, obnoxious growl sounded from Aaron's gut. The boy shrank slightly, as if trying to hide the noise with a physical motion. His face flushed, and he glanced shyly up at Gilan. Gilan had fallen over laughing on the porch boards. Getting to his feet he grinned at Aaron.  
" I believe I promised you food when I gave you those spare clothes?" he asked still laughing a bit. Aaron shifted uncomfortably and said nothing in reply. However, he nodded once to acknowledge the fact. " I think now is the best time for me to hold true on that promise, don't you?" The boy gave a small smile and nodded. Then Gilan led the way into his small house, with Aaron in toe. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep, that's the end. Nothing exciting yet, but trust me, I'll get to doing something soon. Remember read and review please.


	3. The Beginning

Another Chapter up. I'll try and make this one a little better edited then the last ones. ~~~~~~

It is absolutely amazing how much one stomach can take in a short amount of time. Gilan found this out the hard way when he gave food to his young guest. Then again, he wasn't counting on the fact that the boy was completely and utterly famished from his time traveling. Of coarse, he might have considered the thought sooner if he'd taken closer note as to just how underweight the boy was. Aaron ate at the food Gilan made like a vulture in a desert. He ate ravenously and without relent for the first few refills he asked for. This would be the first time that between two people they'd finished every small drop of soup made in his fairly large pot. Gilan didn't eat half of it either. He ate his usual amount, and Aaron took the rest greedily. " Easy, the food's not going anywhere." Gilan said, as the boy took another giant mouth full of bread with his soup. The boy chewed and swallowed more quickly then Gilan thought any human being should be able to eat.

" Except into my stomach." Aaron replied, and went right back to eating at the same inhuman pace. And finally, the boy could no longer manage any more food into his gut. A good thing too, because that had been the end of his pot of food. Gilan stared, dumbfounded. He held up the pot and turned it completely upside down. Not one drop came out of it.  
" I have never seen anyone eat like that in my life." he said, shaking his head, while Aaron looked to be rather lazy after his heavy eating. Rubbing his small stomach he leaned back and sighed in satisfaction. He put his finger in his mouth, trying to free and trapped piece of food from the space between his teeth.  
" You don't know how long I've gone without a decent bed and meal. Trust me, you would be like me with that food in the same situation." he replied, the most pleasant that Gilan had seen thus far from him. However, the boy still maintained a sort of seriousness that seemed still so unnatural on such a young face.

It rather baffled Gilan how someone so young could be so serious. Aaron leaned back against the wall comfortably, and right before Gilan's eyes, sitting straight upright against the wall, he fell right to sleep in seconds. The serious lines drawn on the boy's features eased away, and his breath drew in deep and rhythmically after only a few moments. Gilan shook his head, and got to his feet quietly. The boy was a curiosity to him. He really, truly, wanted to know more about him. He gathered the pot and set it aside. In his spare room he found the boy had left the rough blanket in the room. So, he gathered it up and tossed it over his guest that slept upright. He had somewhere to be right now. He'd step out for a bit while the boy was asleep and deal with some business that he needed to attend to. ~~~~~~~

Waking, Aaron found himself alone in the small house. Taking note of the blanket he found over himself, Aaron assumed Gilan had let him sleep. Sighing, he realized he'd slept upright again.

It was an old habit his master had told him he should be rid of by now. However, the habit stubbornly stayed with him no matter his efforts. Folding up the blanket, Aaron cleaned the pot too, more out of habit then anything else. Then, finding his host still missing, Aaron took to exploring. Now when Aaron takes to exploring someone, he explores everything. High, low, in small corners or in hidden spaces, Aaron would find most anything and everything anyone would want to hide away.

He went here and there around the Ranger's house, taking things out of places, then putting them away just as he found them. Actually, he found several interesting reports, and frowned at the one about the recently taken care of bandits. He put it where he found it after glancing over the report briefly. Unfortunately, he wasn't given as much time as he had been hoping for to search the entire house. Gilan returned, and Aaron only knew this because he heard the horse approaching.  
Setting down the paperwork that he'd been looking at before, Aaron moved out onto the porch to greet him. Gilan grinned broadly at the sight of his young guest up and about.

" Good Morning! How are we this lovely morning?" he said very pleasantly. Aaron shifted, appearing very comfortable compared to the way he had been earlier when he'd spoken with Gilan on the porch before eating. Still, the boy's eyes were cold and somewhat rueful as he smiled at Gilan now once more.  
" Afternoon." he said in reply to Gilan. " It's afternoon now, not morning." Aaron pointed up at the sky to indicate the placement of the sun. Gilan glanced up and noted that Aaron was right. It looked to be just past noon. Then Aaron pointed to the shadows of the trees. " The shadow are just starting to angle now, see? That's how I know." he informed Gilan. Checking, Gilan took note of the boy's abilities. Aaron was a good observer. That was something worth knowing.  
" I stand corrected." Gilan replied, leading Blaze into the stable, and removing the saddle from the horse's back. Blaze tossed her head in thanks, then headed into the small stable. Aaron stood back and watched as Gilan set about his chores. " You any good with a bow?" he asked after a silence had stretched between the two of them for a bit.

" What?" Aaron asked, not expecting the sudden question. Gilan gave him a look. A look that said Gilan wasn't going to repeat himself again. " Well, I dunno. What's your definition of being good with a bow?" Now this was a new one, Gilan had to admit. He was getting answered with a question. He raised his brow, and went in to brush Blaze down a bit. Aaron followed simply because he was persistent and wanted an answer.

" What about fighting with knives?" Gilan asked on, smoothing Blaze's coat with the brush he had. Perhaps he could get a clearer answer with this question. However, his efforts were in vain.  
" I suppose next you'll ask if I'm good with a sword or a battle ax? Or maybe something else within the nature of weapons? Either way, no matter what you ask, I'll say that it depends what you mean by 'good' at using them." Aaron seemed almost like a country boy, but clearly he was smart. More useful information to know, Gilan noted. " Why do you ask, anyways?"

Very smart. Good to know.

Giving a goofy sort of grin at Aaron, Gilan tossed a bow and quiver full of arrows to him, then gathered his own up.  
" Just thought we could have a little fun. If you can't shot to save your life this won't be any fun though." he said, then Aaron began to get the idea. Gilan was glad to see the gruesome smile that spread across Aaron's face now. Checking over the bow and arrows briefly, Aaron tested the weapon a bit, still grinning.  
" Then let's go already." Aaron insisted, and Gilan finished brushing Blaze and led the way out to a spot not too far into the trees about his home.

Looking around a moment, Gilan picked out the targets, pointing for Aaron.  
" Start off easy with that branch there as close to the truck as you can get without actually hitting it, then between those branches there," he indicated the spots making a full run around so that several points were at opposite sides of the area around them. He indicated points behind the so that they would have to turn all the way in a circle to hit them. Mostly he chose these for kicks.

Aaron listened and nodded, his entire face showing a huge amount of understanding and recognition of the different points, elevations and restrictions to the shots. The boy must be good with a boy. A person who didn't know much about a bow wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of his explanation and Gilan was well aware of that fact.

" So," Aaron said, after Gilan had finished telling him the dozen or so points he wanted, " I want to hit here," he drew and shot very quickly to the first, easy shot Gilan had indicated, " and here, right?"

And one after another Aaron drew and fired to each point with great ease. Gilan noted that Aaron didn't name the points in the order he'd given them to the boy.

" Why'd you change the order?" Gilan asked, and the boy looked a bit confused at him for a moment. Then he frowned slightly, thinking a minute.  
" Was I not supposed to?"  
" Why did you, first?" Gilan insisted. It sort of felt like they were playing 20 questions, only they couldn't decide who's turn it was to ask or receive the questions. Aaron conceded to Gilan on this one.  
" Well, " he said, his brow creased in a deep v-shape as he looked at the targets that now had arrows sticking out of them, " if these points are my enemy, he's the closest to me," he pointed to the first target, " I want him dead right away. Then he's the next closest to reaching me." now Aaron spun round to indicate the second to last point. " Target 5 over there is closer, by he's up in the tree, so I have time to waste before I get rid of him. That guy there is furthest away, so I can wait for him til way later," now he pointed out target 9," and so on from there." he explained.

Gilan hadn't thought of this. Actually,it was a rather novel thought to him. The boy had thought of something Gilan hadn't even intended to test out. This time he held back the smile from his face.

" What about when you hit target 12 and 4? Why'd you hit 12 first?" Gilan had noticed the movement and had been waiting for the opportunity to ask this question of Aaron. The frown returned to Aaron's face once more as he observed and thought back on his shots for a moment.

" I hit target 10 before that, right?" he asked, unsure of his actions from before. Gilan nodded at this. Aaron mimicked his former motions, still thinking it over. The realization hit him." It was too much of a stretch for me to swing around to hit 4 then spin around again to hit 12. Too much motion, that got rid of most of the extra motion I didn't want to deal with." he told Gilan. Gilan could see the logic in that. After all spinning like that seemed too much to deal with to have to spin all over again afterwards.

" But then 4 would've been able to land a hit on you." Gilan added to Aaron. Now Aaron frowned more.  
" That's a close one though. I might have still been able to hit him even dealing with 12 first." Aaron seemed to set up his argument.

" Or gotten your head cut off." Gilan replied.  
" Or shot him in the heart." Aaron answered stubbornly back at Gilan. Gilan gave a frustrated sigh. This boy was bull headed, despite that he may be unsure of himself in some way. Aaron clearly wasn't sure of himself, it seemed to almost be in the boy's nature. However, the boy didn't let this doubt in his mind stop him from sticking to whatever stand he took on a dispute.  
" Look, think about it a second. In a real fight you'll want to make sure you keep your head intact, no matter if it means taking some extra movement to do it, you understand that, right?" Gilan told him.

Aaron nodded with a sigh of dismay. " I thought I could make it, though." he insisted in reply and Gilan nodded.  
" It'd be close, but I'm sure target 4 would get you from behind if you didn't take care of him before target 12. If you didn't then you'd have to deal with close quarters combat. If some of these guys have axs you might well be done for if close quarters is involved." Gilan said thoughtfully to Aaron.

" Why didn't you tell me target 4 had an ax, then?" Aaron seemed right befuddled.

Gilan would've spat water on the boy if he had been drinking water at the time.

" What?"

" Well, I assumed that since you didn't tell me any of these guys had weapons that they would all be unarmed." Aaron replied, very plainly to Gilan.

Gilan might well have died of shock at this point. Not only had the targets become people, now they were actually attacking with weapons at them both.

" Are you pulling my leg?" that was a rather unwise thing to do, pulling a Ranger's leg, that is. They don't like to be made fools of and Gilan was no exception. Although, it does seem at times that he is a fool, he doesn't take kindly to being made into a fool by a younger kid.

Aaron's gaze, however, was straight and simple, without the slightest show of mockery on his face as he looked at Gilan.

" No, not at all. Do I sound like I'm making a joke?" Aaron was lost and nothing more. That satisfied Gilan, though he was right surprised.  
" You do realize that these are targets, not people, right?" Gilan asked now, starting to worry that the boy may not have his head on straight. Aaron, however, seemed just as confused as Gilan with the situation they found themselves in now.

" I was told to treat targets as if each one was a person." Aaron said, very plain and simple back to him. It rather reminded Gilan of the straight forward nature of young Horace, whom he'd traveled with to Celtic some time ago. This only reminded Gilan as to what had happened with young Will. However, he didn't allow himself to dwell on this.

" Oh . . ." Gilan thought this over a bit. He wasn't the least bit surprised to hear that Aaron had been trained with a bow. It was obvious by the way the boy held his bow and shot the arrows. The motions Aaron made were practiced and smooth, moves molded from long hours of multiple days practicing.  
" My Master said it would help me deal with the real thing if I made out every target as a person, rather then just a target." he explained further with a shrug of his shoulders.  
" You've never killed someone before?"

" I have now," the boy answered, laughing slightly at the insinuation that Gilan thought he'd actually never shot a man with his arrows, " I've just always been taught that way. That's how I was taught before I killed someone for the first time, and it helped. It's sort of a habit now for me to think that way during training," Aaron looked a bit sheepish as he scratched the back of his head and said, " now I know why we're both so confused. Whoops."  
" It's alright," Gilan said, looking around at the targets once again, " I never really considered that idea. Your Master sounds like an inventive person." Aaron almost instantly sobered up, still smiling, but in a more serious way then his previous sheepish way.

" I always thought so. Anyways, let's see who's got the best shot." and with those words the competition began.

Arrows flew at a speed so fast, any on lookers would be amazed, though there were none there to see at the time. The only two people there to see where a pair of strangers, back to back, with bows drawn back and arrows whipping past all around as each spun and turned. And both had smiles on there faces, and laughing, speaking occasionally, sometimes taunting, sometimes teasing. All was well and fun, even in the slightest of ways silly. In the end, however, Gilan was the obvious winner. Both were very accurate, but Gilan was faster to draw and release the arrows, finishing two targets ahead of Aaron, and with still more accurate shots then the younger boy.

The day went on at a lazy pace still. No matter, though, neither, at the end of the day could tell you anything about the others life. Yet, by the end of the day, Gilan and Aaron had befriended each other from a simple compatition. If one would ask either about other, the one in question would speak on and on about them, as if they'd known each other for years. Not once could they tell one the other's birth date, place, or time. However, they would speak still fondly of the other. The two spoke little, usually in comfortable silence as they tended to this or that which need be attended to.~~~~~~~~~~~~

yep. another chapter done. It'll pick up in time, be patient with me. Please read and review for me.


	4. The Start of a Day

Another chapter for you all to enjoy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At dinner that same evening, Aaron and Gilan were quiet, but in good company. However,  
Gilan had noticed that Aaron was shifting, and distracted for most of the meal. Once they'd finished the boy finally spoke up.

" I can't stay here," he said, slowly, almost reluctantly, " I'm going to leave tomorrow at dawn."

Gilan's brows rose as he sipped at his drink, the only thing left of his small meal. Well, it was a small meal in comparison to Aaron's meal. The boy was still eating like he'd never tasted food in his life.

" That so?" Gilan asked, thoughtfully back at Aaron. " This message you need to give out is that important?" Aaron looked rather confused by Gilan's choice of words.  
" I dunno if it's important or not. All I know is I've got a job to do, and I need to do it." Gilan set down his cup, glancing at Aaron curiously, as he did very often, he found.  
" Then what's the rush?" he persisted in his curiosity.

Aaron held himself, stubborn as ever as he looked right back at Gilan. Good, the boy was determined. Always a good trait. He gave Gilan a rather deviant look now, glaring at his older friend a moment.

" My master doesn't much like it when I don't do my work in a timely fashion." he said carefully back to Gilan, whom cocked his brows up again.

" Enough he can't forgive you for taking a few days to get back to full health?" Gilan challenged found himself on the losing side now. " That's rather hard to believe, if it's not something that important."

" Let me rephrase that statement before," Aaron said back, taking up a new approach, "it's nothing important for the people whom aren't meant to receive it. More then anything it means absolutely nothing to most everybody, if I did tell anyone else, which I haven't." he added with great emphasis to Gilan. " In fact, it probably doesn't mean anything to anybody. I half expect this to be one of his tests for me. Trust me, he does this more then you might be thinking, Gilan. He's a rather silly man in that sense. Either way, I feel that I have to be swift with the messages. Even if they aren't important even to the people receiving them." he spoke rather bluntly to Gilan, whom nodded somewhat to this.

However, he remained unconvinced.

True, he had no reason to doubt Aaron's intentions, but something within Gilan insisted that he could not simply take the boy by his word on this topic.

" Well, you'll have to wait til a little after dawn so I might join you." Gilan could repress the smile no more, and Aaron choked slightly on his drink. Patting his chest several times over again, Aaron stared at Gilan, whom sipped at his own cup half laughing at Aaron. Aaron was well aware of that when he looked wide eyed at Gilan.

" What?" he croaked, then coughed a few times and cleared his throat. Gilan's stupid grin only served to make Aaron's blood run cold now.

" I'll be joining you for your trip. You don't know the way to Redmont or Castle Araluen, right? Clearly you'll need my help to get where you need to go." Gilan informed Aaron more then just content with himself. The timing of that statement couldn't have been better. Halt would've been proud, Gilan was sure of that.

" Are you sure? I mean," Aaron said, somewhat bashfully as he went on," it's cool, hanging out with you, but aren't I just imposing on you now? You've done so much for me already, I mean, seriously, you don't have to come along-"

" No, it's no trouble. I've got nothing better to do, and I've already cleared it with my bosses, so I'm all good. Just need to get packed up and ready to go." Gilan answered, smiling. That was his mask. The fact was, despite some liking for the boy, Gilan was really going with him to see if Aaron would be causing problems for Araluen, as he suspected that Aaron might be doing. Aaron had mixed feelings about this, but was kicking himself for this whole thing now.

" If you're sure-"

" Coarse I'm sure," Gilan responded, getting to his feet and slipping away into the shadows, almost like magic as it appeared to Aaron, " I am a Ranger after all." And that was the simplest it ever got for a Ranger, Gilan was sure of that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gilan hadn't known what he was getting himself into. Now Gilan couldn't deny the fact. Aaron was a very, VERY tough guy. That, and when Aaron said dawn, he meant it.

" For a Ranger, you sure seem to hate the mornings." Aaron said from the back of Rurin that he slowed to join Blaze and Gilan a bit behind the black stallion. Gilan gave a tired look over at the bright eyed young boy next to him and grunted.  
" I'm fine after a cup of coffee." he replied, shortly back, but Aaron was unperturbed ever on this early morning while they headed up a small ridge. At the top, Aaron stopped Rurin and looked about, awe in his eyes and he motioned for Gilan to join him.

" Look at this!"Blaze came to a stop beside Rurin, and Gilan looked about.

Before them,the forest thinned, and the early morning light shown over the small, calm fief of Merdic. The sun set the dew soaked fields shining brightly, and lighting the whole of the fief up in the early hours of the coming of day. Or that's how it appeared, a striking beauty to see. Gilan stared a bit then looked over at the awe struck Aaron.

" I love sights like this. So beautiful." he said and Gilan might have agreed.

However, he wouldn't have been talking about the same thing as Aaron. Gilan was spell bound almost, seeing the way the morning sun shown against the small frame of Aaron. The sun brought out a lightness to the boy's black hair and had his eyes glittering green, as Gilan just took note of the color of his eyes. It was more striking to Gilan to see the sun behind the young boy then lighting up his calm fief.

When Aaron glanced over, Gilan quickly looked away, setting his hood on his head as he tried to make it seem as if he hadn't just been watching his companion. It looked like Gilan would be safe, since Aaron hadn't mentioned it yet.

" Aw, well, let's keep going. Lots of ground to cover," he said making a clicking noise and the stallion shifted now," at least I think so, anyways." So the stallion moved on. Gilan gave his head a shake once, then followed after with Blaze. " Are you sure I'm allowed to have this?" Aaron asked Gilan over his shoulder. " I feel rude just taking it since you've been helping me so much." Gilan laughed.

" Again, Aaron? It's fine, what am I gonna do with two bows? Shoot them both at once?" Gilan chuckled on, as Aaron had insisted this several times already and it was only early morning. " It's fine. No need to say anything about the cloak either. It's perfectly okay." Aaron frowned slightly, but said nothing in protest.

Gilan had given the things to Aaron so that Aaron could have clean clothes( as his others were still a mess) and a means to protect himself, though that was just in case. However, Gilan had no second saddle for Aaron to use. This didn't bother Aaron in the least, and, actually, the boy seemed completely content riding the horse as it was. It was still a wonder in Gilan's mind how Aaron could stand it, but Aaron seemed fine with it, so Gilan let it go.

Gilan soon found out just how tough this young boy really was. The day dragged on, and even without rain, it was a tiring trek. Nonetheless, Aaron had them both moving quickly along. Hours went by and Aaron had them moving tirelessly forwards.

Even more interesting to Gilan was that Aaron got them moving gradually faster and faster from when they began. By the time Aaron wanted to stop for a bit, the horses were at a fast cantor. Gilan was glad to hear Aaron's request. In all honesty, he was beginning to wonder how much longer he could handle the hard riding. Once they dismounted and settled down for a break, Gilan noted that Aaron was sweating and panting a bit. Aaron gave a soft sigh, and after glancing over at Gilan, gave a smile and a wave at him. The boy was a curiosity for Gilan. His mind couldn't wrap around the boy's strangeness. Then again, he hardly knew the boy, he should expect that, but still, Gilan felt abnormally curious about Aaron.

One thing Gilan had begun to notice was how often Aaron looked around them. It seemed normal, until you saw just how engrossed he got in searching the land, and how often. He seemed almost like he was expecting something to come springing out to scare them at any moment. Like he expected some ghost to come sneaking up on him. Perhaps he should have taken that as a hint as for what was to come. Then again, it was not as if Aaron mentioned this to him before, so how was Gilan to know?~~~~~~~~~~~~

ha ha, I bet you wanna know what's going on now, don't you? Next chapter, kids, next chapter. Til then, reviews are a nice gift to give. Do send them to me if you's like this story. Much thanks.


	5. First Attack

Another chapter. Read on and enjoy.

The darkness set in on this quick day of travel so quickly that it seemed they'd only been moving for minutes when a whole day had actually passed. It seemed strange that the day went by so quickly as the two hadn't talked much along the way. Although, Gilan couldn't help laughing every time Aaron started to head the wrong direction or have to ask him to point out the way for him.

" I'm surprised you even made it all the way here to Araluen with your sense of direction." Gilan said, laughing when Aaron turned to ask for help again. Aaron puffed up slightly, mad at Gilan for this comment.

" Yeah, well I actually knew where I was going in Gallica. I've been there more then once. I haven't been here at all before." he muttered, irritably back. Gilan grew curious.

" You've been to Gallica a few times before?" he asked his young companion. " Was your master a trader of some kind?" It was Aaron's turn to laugh at Gilan now.

" Hardly. My Master would be the worst handy man you'd ever see in your life." he replied, laughing still at this thought.

" Often times, for money, my Master and I would take odd jobs in cities and towns we ran out of money in," Aaron admitted to Gilan, " lots of times we ended up with long term jobs protecting important people, or people whom thought they were important enough to need body guards. That, and we help out a lot of farmers during harvest time." Aaron seemed almost thoughtful as he said this. Gilan tilted his head, frowning slightly at the sound of this master of his.

" So basically your master and you bum around." he said, bluntly back. Aaron instantly jumped on the defensive at this comment.

" No way! We're better then that. My Master just doesn't like to stay in one place too long." he answered Gilan sternly. Gilan was unconvinced.

" Like bums." he said.

" We're not bums!" Aaron insisted, stubbornly. Gilan argued the point no further. Clearly, there was no way to convince Aaron that he'd been taken in by a penniless vagabond no matter how very obvious it seemed to Gilan himself.

" What messages could be possibly have for people here in Araluen?" Gilan wondered, vaguely. Aaron shrugged to him in reply and was silent again.

That was the one thing that really bothered Gilan about this whole situation. Aaron claimed that he couldn't remember the messages given to him, but the boy was clearly very intelligent. The boy had been able to prove that to Gilan even over this short amount of time. How was it possible to be smart, but have a bad memory?  
To Gilan this sounded almost ludicrus. It seemed completely obserd to him.

Then again, why would Aaron feel any reason to hide this sort of thing from Gilan? There was no real reason to hide it unless it was to help with some attack against Araluen. That was the reason for Gilan coming with Aaron in the first place was to make sure the messages weren't something of greater importance then just contacting a few old friends.

The whole situation was a bit strange for Gilan, and he had to figure out what to do next.

That evening, Gilan and Aaron set up a sight to camp for the night. Yet again, Aaron seemed abnormally on edge for someone just delivering a message. Gilan noted the behavior.

" You always so jumpy, Aaron?" he asked, getting straight to the point. Aaron, after looking a bit confused and getting an irritated look from Gilan for said look, smiled as best he was able in reply.

" My Master always warned me to be alert. Even in times of peace, there are people that will take advantage of a pair of unsuspecting travelers. That's about what he said most of the time. I'm just sort of used to being ready for anything." he explained to Gilan, working on starting a fire so they could cook their meal and Gilan could drink his coffee. Gilan set to making his coffee after eating dinner. He had been, once again, surprised to see just how much Aaron could eat in one sitting.

Actually, it had kind of made him lose his appitite. Aaron had been more then willing to finish it for him, so no food was wasted. Gilan guessed that would be the case with Aaron around with him now.

Anyways, Gilan set to making his coffee, rather excitedly, in all honesty.

" You drink coffee?" he asked, knowing it would be rather rude to make coffee for only himself and not for his companion. Aaron looked over at him, looking out and around at the land around their camp sight. He shook his head to Gilan.

" Not coffee. Boil some water for me too though." he answered. Gilan gave the boy a long look, then did so. Gilan might've asked why, but he had no doubt that he would find out why Aaron wanted the water in good time.

Once he'd finished boiling the water, he called Aaron over. He poured out the hot water into each of their separate cups and scooped in the grains that would make the water coffee. Aaron had gone to get something from one of his bags. Dropping it in, Aaron rejoined Gilan at the fire sight, smiling at Gilan.

" What is that?" Gilan asked, seeing that the water inside Aaron's cup had changed to a golden honey sort of color. Aaron handed the cup over to Gilan.

" You want to try it, I assume?" he said in reply. Gilan looked at Aaron, then down at the cup and back again. Cocking a suspicious eyebrow, he took a sip from the cup. Instantly, he spat it out on the ground next to him. Cringing from disgust, he handed the cup back to Aaron who laughed at Gilan openly amused with the events.

" What is that stuff?!" Gilan asked again, spitting, then drinking the coffee to remove the taste from his mouth. After a moment to swallow, Gilan drank from his coffee cup again to be sure he'd gotten all of the taste from every part of his mouth.

" Tea." Aaron said, laughing still. " I can't help doing that to everyone. It's so funny seeing them all make faces like that when they try it!" Aaron giggled onward. Gilan frowned, kicking himself for this. He'd trusted this boy too much, and had been made a fool of.

Now it was on.

" I'm sorry, I can't resist doing that to everybody. If it makes you feel better, most people just drink without a second look at me." Aaron mentioned, and sipped at his tea contently. He gave a soft sigh, and smiled pleasantly. Gilan returned to his coffee cup.

" How can you like that stuff?" he muttered slightly, drinking his coffee with an new appretiation for the taste of it now. Aaron shrugged, and kept on smiling while he drank his tea.

" GILAN!!!" A holler jolted Gilan out of his sleep.

As quickly as he could, he got to his feet, grabbing his bow and quiver of arrows that lay not far from him. He looked around, quickly,unsure of what was happening.

" Gilan!!" The shout came again, and Gilan swung round, catching sight of a skirmish about a hundred or so meters from him. There were three people, two bulkier figures grabbing and dragging at the smaller.

" GILAN!! LOOK OUT!!!" Gilan heard the cry from Aaron just as soon as he caught sight of the boy being dragged off by the two burly figures right in front of his eyes.

" AARON-!" his cry was cut short, as pressure on his neck increased.

A tight woven rope pulled at his neck as he was lifted off his feet from someone who he hadn't seen.

" Shut up would ya? It's too late to be shouting." a deep voice said beside Gilan's ear as the rope pulled harder against Gilan's neck.

Gilan gasped, struggling, squirming in the man's grip. However, the man was steady, and clearly much stronger physically then Gilan. Still Gilan struggled. Grabbing his throwing knife, he used it like a dagger, stabbing the man in the side.

This seemed to have done the trick.

The rope loosened, and Gilan was able to gasp air into his constricting lungs.

Pulling his knife free, Gilan changed the angle, and aimed for the man's theigh, stabbing the man's leg as well and then shook free of him.

Running some yards away from the injuried man, Gilan scanned the earth again. Aaron had been dragged even farther from him now.

" Blaze!!" Gilan exclaimed, doubling back, avoiding the man from before agilely to get to the horses. Blaze was ready to go, and Gilan leaped into the saddle as if he had been levitated there. To his surprise, the black stallion seemed to know what was going on, and headed out a bit in front of Gilan and Blaze in pursuit of his master.

Gilan and the horses caught up easily.

Notching and arrow some twenty yards away where Gilan had Blaze slow down, Gilan took aim and fired in that practiced movement, easily changing aim and sending another arrow flying toward the second man right after. The arrow hit with a thump into the chest of one man, sending him crumbling to the ground dead. The second man was hit almost a squarely in the side, but he scrambled away from Aaron, running for his life.

Gilan aimed a third arrow, but the black stallion blocked his sight for a moment too long.

The man was lucky. He got away with his life, this time.

Cursing a few times under his breath, Gilan put the arrow away muttering to himself, and turned his attention back to Aaron. The stallion had gotten in Gilan's way to get to it's master right away. It bent it's head down to nuzzle the boy, a mass of person sprawled out on the ground next to the body shot down by Gilan's arrow.

Aaron panted for breath, stroking the stallion's nose soothingly, pressing the horse nose to his cheek once. Gilan came over, retrieving his arrow from the body before returning it to his quiver as he took hold of Aaron's arm to help the boy to his feet again.

" Come on. We can't stay here, that man will be back with help next time." Gilan said, and Aaron nodded understanding, quickly getting onto Rurin's back in only a moment.

" Let's get our stuff and go. What are we waiting for?" Aaron insisted, and they urged their horses back to the camp sight, grabbed the few things set out, and got riding away from there as quickly as they could.

Their troubles weren't over though. A few of the faster people from the scout's reinforcements came in hot pursuit of them both.

Blaze had made snorted and jostled Gilan in his saddle to get his attention. Rurin had made a rather strange sound as well. It was almost a half snort half bray, but not quite.

" We're being followed!" Aaron shouted over his shoulder, catching sight of a few mounted horsemen. Gilan glanced over his shoulder.

Twisting somewhat uncomfortably in the saddle, Gilan slide out a set of arrows, and notched it in the bow string. Carefully, he drew the arrow back and aimed, then sent it flying with a gentle thump. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of movement.

He nearly had a heart attack right then and there.

Aaron was not only facing backwards on the back of the horse, he was holding himself off the horse's back with his knees! An arrow strung and pulled back, he squinted as he aimed his arrow.

" HAH!!" the boy hollered, and the arrow went shooting away into the darkness. One rider had already slumped in his saddle and fallen. Now another was thrown backwards with the force of the arrow, but never reappeared from where he'd fallen to the ground. There were only a few left.

" Hurry! Go!!" Gilan shouted, urging Blaze forwards, pulling ahead of Aaron and Rurin for a few long strides. Then Aaron had Rurin keeping up with Blaze for the majority of the distance away to safety from there. Now Gilan was sure. Something was definitely going on with this boy,and he needed to find out now.

There was no question about it anymore.

Told you it was going to get more interesting soon. Bet you didn't believe me at first, did you? Didn't think so. Read and Review kids. Thanks for reading.


	6. Through Lies

Yep, this is still going strong for now. Hope to keep it going through the summer months. Got just one more day of school, and you have no idea how excited I am. Got a final to pass still though. . . Anyways, here's the next chapter.

Once Gilan felt they had gained enough distance between themselves and their attackers, he eased Blaze down to a slow trot and then, eventually a walk. He glanced around, then glared over at Aaron, whom had kept behind and out of sight of Gilan since the long chase had started. Gilan was damn well pissed off, and he felt it right that he should be angry.

" When were you planning on telling me that you were being chased by armed fighters?" he asked, outright, using an unreadable tone. Aaron shrank visibly from this. Gilan wasn't smiling.

He took this as a bad sign.

" I was going to tell you, honest-!" Aaron insisted, but Gilan was unconvinced.

" And when would that have been, Aaron? When I find myself dead before breakfast?" he frowned greatly at Aaron, mad.

" Hey, I didn't ask you to tag along with me, alright? It's your own fault for getting involved in my business-"

" It would've been nice to know what I was getting myself into before I tagged along with you!" he snapped, losing his temper, but catching himself there. He worked to keep himself under control. " I can't go back now, they saw me with you. Since they're after you, and they saw you with me, now I'm their target as well." Aaron's eyes stretched wide at Gilan. " Didn't think of that, did you?" he spoke sarcastically.

Aaron hung his head and sighed. He deserved this, for not thinking of this sooner. Now there was no way to get Gilan out of this, and it was all Aaron's fault for not telling Gilan everything that was going on.

" Sorry. . ." Aaron murmured, softly. This was maybe the first few words Gilan actually thought the boy had spoken truthfully to him. However, that did nothing to make things better for either of them.

" Well, now I'm involved. Whether you like it or not, kid." he replied, and moved ahead, leaving Aaron to his thoughts for the time being. This was far from over, however. Gilan was more then sure of that fact now.

" When I left my Master and he gave me the message, we were attacked by these people," Aaron explained, feeling a bit more open with Gilan now that he'd gotten Gilan caught up in all of this, " I'm not sure exactly who they were, or what they wanted, but they were after my Master and I. It sounded like my Master knew something that they wanted to know. My Master didn't give them what they wanted. It was only the two of us at the time. He sent me away. Directed me to head this direction with his message."

Gilan nodded, eating his breakfast with a more stern face then he liked to have in the morning. Aaron was someone to be suspicious of now. He'd lied to Gilan the first time. What was stopping the boy from telling another lie again?

" What is the message?" Gilan persisted, and Aaron shook his head at Gilan, laughing ruefully once at him.

" The part about having a bad memory is actually true," he answered, laughing at his own inability then anything else.

This was a sour situation for the both of them now. Aaron had just planned to slip away in the night and disappear, leaving Gilan to simply head back the way he had come to his fief. Not only was Gilan completely caught in his problems, the older man had caught Aaron's lie. Now he would have to find a way to regain Gilan's trust, well, however much trust you have of someone you just met,

" I couldn't understand it when he gave it to me either. Knowing my Master it was probably some giant code message in place of the actual one so that it only made sense to a few people. The people who were meant to have it." Aaron shrugged, and nibbled at his food this morning. He found his appetite just wasn't there, and forced the food down his throat only so that he had substance for his body.

" A code?" Gilan inquired, and Aaron glanced up, then away again. He nodded, looking down at his half eaten food rather then around at anything else.

" My Master had a gift with such things as codes and puzzles. He took amusement by making me try them out first, then pointing out the key and telling me I'm a fool." he said the last sentence more to himself then to Gilan.

Gilan wasn't so sure of this. Then again, he didn't really have a say in it anymore.

" Ever think he might be right?" he asked, his tone was unreadable again.

Aaron hesitated to give a reply, as he couldn't tell Gilan's mood currently. Then he sighed.

" Most days he is." he admitted softly, with a half shrug.

Gilan took note of this, but wasn't expecting the comment that finished Aaron's statements.

" I never listen to him when he tells me that," Aaron gave a few semi-forced laughs, " my Master is quite the liar himself, and a fair bit cruel too." With that the boy turned from Gilan, walking a few paces to act as a watch, and began to eat with more vigor then before.

Glancing down, Gilan began to eat his own half eaten meal as well, swallowing with forceful gulps. He couldn't help thinking this was a waste of good food.

Truth be told, neither felt much remorse for the other. Sure, it saddened Gilan a bit to find that he'd been lied to, but, then again, he barely knew Aaron. Everything the boy said could have been a lie, and Gilan would be none the wiser simply because Aaron was from somewhere outside of Araluen all together. All he was doing was following the boy to be sure that he wasn't some sort of tool to be used by an enemy of Araluen.

As for Aaron, lies were normal. He'd lied his way all the way to Araluen. One little screw up wasn't going to perturb the boy by this point. It was too late for him to start being a chivalrous, gallant person. That was a joy only the noble and knights got the pleasure to enjoy, and Aaron was neither of these. If nothing else, he was a street rat. Even in his own eyes he was well aware that he was just some street urchin who was lucky enough to be taken in by his Master.

So, the ride was quiet as before, but had adopted a more business like air as they moved onward toward Castle Redmont. Gilan's friendliness had diminished greatly. However, he was far too friendly a person to allow this ride to be so serious as it had started since the first attack.

Since he wasn't feeling the least bit nice from Aaron's with holding information from him, he took to teasing the boy along the way.

" What? Still don't know the right direction to go?" Gilan said, once Aaron had stopped for about the third time during the last 20 meters or so. Aaron frowned over his shoulder at Gilan,getting more then a little annoyed with Gilan.

" Shut up." he said, very plainly back at him, as Gilan brought Blaze up next to Rurin.

" That's mature." he state flatly in turn.

" Yeah, like getting on someones nerves on purpose is the totally adult thing to do." Aaron replied, voice thick with sarcasm. " Don't think I haven't noticed, you've been getting on my nerves all day, after all. You're like a kid, only bigger and harder to deal with." Gilan grinned sheepishly to this and had to hold back his giggling as Blaze passed the black stallion.

" True, but I've got all the perks of being considered an adult." he said, now laughing right out loud.

" Which is what makes this whole situation all the more ironic." he sighed, and had the stallion follow after Blaze. Gilan looked at Aaron, in such a way it would be impossible for the young man not to notice that he was doing so.

" What? Got something on my face or something?"

" You ride like a girl." he said, outright.

Aaron's face almost instantly lights up, red as the sky at sunset. Gilan laughed again at Aaron.

" Ass." Aaron said, slowly Rurin so that the horse was behind Blaze.

Gilan felt a ping of regret this time. He'd only been teasing, but apparently Aaron had taken him seriously. Opps.

" I'm teasing you. You do realize that, don't you?" he asked, slowing down to keep pace with Aaron again. Aaron's face was still red, but not nearly as much as it had been before. Glancing up, Aaron looked a fair bit upset about this.

" Seriously?" Gilan might have choked if he'd been eating. Was this kid for real?

" Seriously," he confirmed for the boy, trying not to laugh, " jeez, didn't realize that would be such as sore spot for you." Then Gilan finally got it.

Aaron was smirking up at him, and started laughing. His leg had been pulled. Aaron had been pulling his leg the whole time.

" You little punk." he said.

" Hey, you were the one teasing me. That's a two way street, buddy." Aaron pointed out, ushering his stallion forward at a faster pace now. Gilan urged Blaze after, and when Aaron realized Gilan had sped up, he set Rurin at a cantor. The horse had an amazing surge of speed.

" So that's how it is, huh?!" Gilan shouted after, and got Blaze to move at a cantor as well.

The race was on now.

Blaze gained some ground on Rurin in no time, soon nipping at the heels of the other horse's hooves. Aaron looked over his shoulder again, clinging to the black tangles of mane on the horse's neck.

" YAH!! YAH!!" he hollered, daring the horse to go faster, strain farther then it already was. Aaron took to looking over his shoulder at Gilan now.

Gilan was grinning madly, Blaze gradually catching up on the right of the black stallion. Aaron tugged at Rurin's mane directing it to swerve to the left and forcing Gilan to make a wider turn then before. It was a ditch effort to slow Blaze down, but Gilan wasn't giving up that easily.

This wouldn't detour him in the least.

He hushed into Blaze's ear to move forwards, leaning close to her mane, helping any way he could to get Blaze ahead of the black stallion. Side by side, Blaze finally came out ahead by a nose!

"WWWHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!" The cry drew Gilan to gaze over at Aaron again. The boy was shouting to the sky, smiling the widest and truest Gilan had seen thus far from him. His knees held tight against the sides of the stallion, his arms spread out wide into the air, the wind tugging at the loose clothes, pulling at him, though he remained steady.

Then, one awkward move of Rurin caused a cry of panic, and he flung himself back down to cling to the neck of the horse again. Looking up at Gilan, Aaron smiled, a bit embarrassed from his out burst. Gilan only smiled, and they slowed to a trot, and eventually to an out of breath walk once again.

Another chapter done. Kind of an odd chapter, but I think it was a nice touch to the awkward situation, don't you think? Read and Review please, as always.


	7. In the Shadows of the Night

Check it out! Another chapter. I'm gonna work to get a lot of chapters typed up during the summer to make up for the slow down that is inevitably gonna happen when the school year takes off again. Yay, I'm done with school. Anyways, enjoy ~~~~

" Do you know who these people are, that are after this message from your master?" Gilan prompted later that night, once the sun was setting. Aaron took up a guard position somewhat out in front of the camp. Glancing back, he shrugged his shoulders while he looked on, slumped against a tree stump.

" Not sure, exactly," he said, then added, almost to himself, " but they follow the orders of one man in particular among them. His man is Urosia," he mentioned when he realized that Gilan was listening in on his thoughts that he was speaking out loud. Smirking slightly Aaron added, " but I prefer to call him 'asshole'." he said, and Gilan frowned at him.

" Your master wasn't one to scold you for bad language, was he?" Gilan asked, not really needing a verbal answer to know what the answer was. Aaron laughed a bit.

" Nope, why? Does it bother you?" he asked, wondering if maybe he'd offended the Ranger in some way by using undiplomatic tongue around him. Gilan shook his head at Aaron.

" I've just never known someone to use it so blandently in conversation." To this Aaron couldn't deny Gilan ha a point.

" Yeah, most people do usually mutter such curses under their breath, or when drunk," he laughed again, thinking nothing of the idea, " or, if one is a knight, is denied full right to say such words from the start, or so I assume here in Araluen." Stretching out slightly he said. " I'm no such person, so I cuss pretty openly. My Master never minded in the least, so nobody usually mentions it to me." he shrugged, and went back to watching the ground around them once again. There were a few moments of silence between the two of them.

Then, Gilan realized something. " Urosia? I've never heard of a name like that before. Is it another language?" he asked of Aaron. Aaron frowned at Gilan a moment, his brows frowning as much as his mouth as he thought this over. Slowly, the boy shook his head slightly to him.

" I've never thought about it. I'm really not sure, it's a good question." Gilan didn't quite believe Aaron this time.

AH! He knew a way to expose the lie.

" Your horse has a rather unusual name too. Is that something you've never found strange before too?" Gilan asked, and Aaron visibly stiffened at this one. He turned to glance over his shoulder at the Ranger. In turn, Gilan cocked an eyebrow at Aaron, expectantly. Very clearly,Gilan showed he didn't believe what the boy had said. Aaron pouted at him, and pointed at Gilan.

" Hey, you don't believe me, do you?" he asked, sounding, actually, somewhat annoyed at the idea that Gilan was actually figuring him out. Gilan tilted his head at the boy now.

" Not in the least bit, boy." he answered, being blunt with Aaron. " After all, you've lied to me before, and I don't believe in coincidences like that." Aaron frowned again, but it looked rather funny, and so, Gilan chuckled a bit to himself about it.

" You make me sad." he told the Ranger, who could only grin to the boy in turn.

" Really?"

" You're totally never going to let me hear the end of this whole, telling a lie to you thing, are you?" Aaron inquired of Gilan, who only kept grinning to him.

" What gave you that idea?" he asked, rather amused by the turn of this conversation.

Aaron snorted, saying no more to him, turning back to his watch of the land around them. Gilan came and joined, watching with him. Then he took to just watching Aaron, and rather curiously at that. When looking Aaron's gaze fell all around the ground, only moving his head on an occasional glance over his shoulder. The rest of the time he allowed only his eyes to scan around, never resting for long on anything in particular. Gilan noted that Aaron didn't even bother spending a lot of time on patches of ground that moved.

" What was that moving there?" Gilan asked, pointing, wondering how Aaron would answer.

" Not what I'm looking for." was the simple answer given to Gilan.

" How do you know?"

" The same way you do." Aaron was unhesitating to reply. " It's not big enough to be a person, that's all I need to know."

" So, you don't know?" Gilan said. A rustling behind them drew his attention, and he looked over his shoulder.

" I do know. Don't insult me like that." Aaron said, and Gilan twisted back toward Aaron to give him a weird expression as the boy talked normally. Aaron had been unperturbed by the sound, and went on as if the noise hadn't been there at all. Gilan had been alert to it because it had sounded so close to them, and he found it curious that Aaron made no move to inspect it.

" You didn't notice that?" he inquired, looking at where the noise had come from.

" The noise? I heard it," Aaron became irritable with Gilan, " what the hell is with you anyways? Are we playing 20 questions or something? If we are, I quit." he said, but now Gilan was sincerely interested and not just testing the boy's abilities out of boredom as he had been before.

" Then, why didn't you move?" he asked, turning to Aaron again. Aaron looked at him, rather unsure of what Gilan was getting at this time, as he had been with the arrows when Gilan had first commented on his abilities.

" It wasn't anything we needed to worry about." he responded, with a shrug of his shoulders. Aaron just kept watching the terrain, as if that was all there was in the world.

" How did you know?" Gilan persisted. Aaron only shrugged again.

" It was close to us, but small. Too small for a person to make. It was a squirrel or rat, something like that." Aaron just kept brushing off the shock Gilan was throwing his way.

Gilan hadn't heard of such a thing as identifying a potential target by ear rather then sight. Another sound drew Gilan's eyes once more.

" It's just Rurin. He moved a little closer to graze on something. I heard his hooves clop." Aaron explained. Gilan found it was true, the black stallion had come a bit closer and was chomping on some tall grass near by.

Yet Aaron remained, still as ever, simply scanning the terrain as he had before. He noticed that Gilan was staring at him, shifting slightly with discomfort of Gilan's long lingering gaze.

" It's all part of the training my Master gave me. He was the one who taught me everything I know, simple as that." Aaron insisted, and Gilan nodded just as something caught Aaron's eye. He straightened up, alert, looking, searching around them.

" What is it?" Gilan murmured, lowly. Aaron jerked his head diagonally toward his right, and got to his feet.

" Oh, shit." he cussed, wheeling around on his heels, and Gilan followed not far behind. He saw it too.

" We have to hurry." Gilan jogged over to the camp they'd set. Aaron quickly doused the fire, and began to scatter what little ashes there were. Gilan threw together what lay on the ground or off to the side, stuffing it into one of his sacks as he leaped onto Blaze's saddle.

" Let's Go!" Aaron had disappeared, so Gilan shouted to be certain he heard. A few moments passed, and no sign of Aaron appeared, which got Gilan nervous until a shout came from close by in the trees.

Aaron came running and shouting out of the trees, Gilan felt relieved for about a second or two until another few forms came out behind the boy.

" GO!!" Aaron hollered, throwing his arm out at Gilan. Sprinting like a cheetah, Aaron ran fast as he could, and was very agile, avoiding a spear by ducking, and ended up stumbling onto the ground. The boy rolled right back onto his feet as if nothing had happened, quickly turning on his heels and charging off in another direction, toward the trees again.

Still being pursued, Aaron grabbing hold of a tree truck and pulled hard, forcing a hard spin round the truck that his chaser couldn't manage to do himself. Then Aaron grabbed on to the sharpest thing he could find, a log about at thick as a rode that was dull on both ends. Spinning, he slammed the log into the head of the oncoming man, that fell back and down. Still whirling, Aaron hit the gut of another man whom was trying to sneak up on him from behind with the opposite side of the stick, sending said person flying for a foot or two.

Aaron dropped the log then, and streaked for Rurin, leaping onto the horse so that his limbs were still dangling on the sides of the horse as it started it's cantor away, Blaze already a good few strides ahead with Gilan. Struggling for a moment, Aaron got upright on Rurin's back before he began to usher the horse to a faster pace.

They quickly lost the attackers, as the attackers in question didn't seem to have come with horses. Gilan led the way through the trees and such, moving the horses through a low stream and went onto the opposite bank of it and into the trees on that side.

Aaron followed without a question, at first. He looked around, on edge, as he was the target of all of these attacks thus far. Then he began to relax a bit more, and take in what it was that Gilan was doing. He observed, simply, and followed along after the older man very quietly until Gilan had the both of them stop.

Sliding down to the ground, Gilan let Aaron crawl into a hollowed out tree truck before following after. They left their horses to tend to themselves in the mean time. Aaron even allowed his to go off on it's own to be sure that there would be no suspicions of what lay where they were.

" We'll have to be more careful," Gilan murmured to Aaron," taking turns at watch and covering our tracks especially, else they won't leave us alone. Or that's what I'm assuming." he looked to Aaron for confirmation. Aaron gave said confirmation, solemnly to Gilan. Then, the boy sighed and got to his feet.

"I'll take first watch then. You can go ahead and sleep." Aaron said, coming up along the side of the truck to peak out from the side of it only enough to see around the opening of it.

Gilan was a bit taken aback at this request to go first.

" Are you sure?" he asked, kindly of Aaron. " I was going to let you sleep first." Aaron shook his head at this proposition of Gilan's.

" I won't be able to sleep very well after all of that. Besides, I'm wide awake now, I might as well do watch while I'm up." Aaron insisted, stubbornly to Gilan. To this Gilan could only sigh, as once again he found the similarity of Halt and Aaron.

Still, this sudden sad mood change worried Gilan. So, he sat up for a bit, crawling up on the opposite side of the hollow trunk and sitting down, looking over at Aaron. He kept a scrutinizing gaze on the boy, who shifted slightly under the critical gaze.

" What?" he asked, finally annoyed with the way Gilan was looking at him.

" Want to talk about what's bothering you?" Gilan now said with a sly, smart sort of tone. Aaron scoffed at him for this question.

" Hell no." he said, out right. Gilan was unconvinced, cocking his head to the side and still looking determinedly at Aaron. Aaron scowled at Gilan now, turning his frown out onto the ground outside the whole in the tree, focusing on the work to try and ignore Gilan's prying into him." It's got nothing to do with you." he said after a long silence.

Now it was Gilan's turn to scowl at Aaron.

" I'm involved because of you now, so it is my business now." he replied, continuing to try and get what he wanted out of Aaron.

Aaron glared a Gilan a good minute or two, then looked away again. His face was set, straight forwards, determined to keep Gilan out of his personal bubble that Gilan only prodded at out of curiosity.

" I can't help wondering who you are now that I'm involved," Gilan decided to speak his mind aloud. Aaron glanced over at him as he went on," and why it is you feel you need to hide whatever it is from me. After all,  
I've done nothing to harm you, despite what's happened. I'm only trying to help, you know?" He looked over at Aaron, thoughtfully, then sighed and shrugged.

" And that only makes me wonder why you would want to help me to begin with?" Aaron replied, blunt. Gilan was quite taken aback by this.

"You're," Gilan spoke slowly, to be sure he was getting this right," suspicious of me?"

Aaron glared out of the corner of his eye, then looked away again, putting his hand on his hip in a very un-masculine like mannerism.

" So you go picking up every stray person you find laying on the side of the road?" he inquired, smartly. Well, that was very true, Gilan couldn't deny that one. " Not only do you lend me clothes and give me food, you put a weapon in my hand." he holds up the bow in his hand, cocking an eyebrow high as he looked at Gilan again, questions in his eyes.

" You don't know anything about me, and know that I've lied to you before. How do you know I haven't lied every step of the way here, so far?" Yet another excellent point brought to light by Aaron.

" I don't." Gilan answered, very simply, and Aaron nodded to this stated fact.

" That's right, you don't. You barely even know me." Aaron paused, trying to regain control as his voice filled with emotion. Finally, after a minute or so of doing this, he'd regained the composure to go on. " Why is it you're really coming along with me, Gilan?"

To that Gilan had to force himself to appear calm, though he gave a jolt of surprise at the suddenness of the question. Aaron only sighed, gazing out from the hiding place again. Then he shook his head, and sort of smiled at Gilan. The smile didn't reach his eyes.

" Don't seem so surprised. It's not that hard to figure out. You're nice enough, Gilan, but not so nice as you've been to me thus far. There's some other motive for you coming along with me, and I'm well aware of that."

" Really?" Gilan leaned fowards, closer to Aaron. " How are you so sure?"

To this, the false smile turned to a sad one instead. His shoulders sagged slightly, and he gave a half sigh to Gilan.

" Because no human heart is so kind or good." he replied, sullenly.

Now Gilan began to see at just what cost it seemed that Aaron had for being so full of knowledge. For all the very clever and intelligent conversation told to this young boy, Gilan noted from that day on, that it had come at the cost of the childish idealism that were so natural to most young people.

And from then on, Gilan never questioned why Aaron appeared so abnormally wise at so young an age. To this comment of Aaron's, Gilan could give no comfort nor reply. ~~~~~~

Another chapter with a bit of drama at the end there. As always, I welcome reviews, so please send them Thanks very much for reading!


	8. Skirting Capture

Another chapter ready to go. Enjoy. ~~~

Once more it was time to set out. Gilan had allowed Aaron to do the first watch, at the price of some precious hours of sleep that Gilan knew the young man needed. Still, Aaron was stubborn as could be, and rode as hard as every other day this day just the same. After the previous conversation, things were very ackward between Gilan and Aaron.

Silences felt riddled with tension, and pleasant conversation was more difficult to reach then it had the times before this one. In fact, coversations were kept rather short and to the point, at least in Aaron's case. The boy seemed to be more and more unwilling to talk as the next two days went past without any disturbances.

" Looks like we've shaken them." Gilan commented once the third morning had come without any signs of their apparent pursuers.

" For now." Aaron replied darkly.

" . . ." Gilan was finding this harder and more frustrating to deal with then ever. " Hopefully our luck holds out until we get to Redmont. It'll be difficult for them to cause problems for us without getting the attention of the local knights. Then we'll be safe for at least a short time."

Aaron nodded to this one. " I'm looking forward to that." he said, smiling. Once more his smile never reached above his eyes, only just below them. Gilan grew a grin too.

" Me too. I can introduce you to my Master while we're there looking for that person you need to find." he mentioned, puffing up somewhat proudly. Aaron noticed the motion, looking with pure curiousity at the older man. " My Master is the Ranger of Redmont Fief. I figure we can stay there while we look for that person. It'll be better then camping out, and won't cost anything like an inn would." Aaron nodded slowly.

" So," he spoke slowly, hiding a smile, " basically, you're a cheap skate, am I right?" Gilan let out a good laugh at this comment, and nodding to Aaron.

" And don't forget free loader!" he answered, giggling some still. Aaron let out some laughs too now,looking forwards once again.

Sliding a hand through the mane of the black stallion, a smile creased the boy's lips as he thought over the idea proposed.

" The master you're not going to be able to look straight in the face again?" Aaron inquired, rather thoughtfully to Gilan. Again, Gilan busted up laughing at the question.

" Yes! I'd nearly forgotten!" he answered, honestly, chuckling as Aaron let out a few more laughs too.

Calming themselves down, Gilan glanced over at Aaron again. When Aaron glanced up at Gilan, a question entered the boy's face.

" I'm betting you'll get along with Halt pretty well." The boy's head tilted to the side at this.

" Who?"

" My master," Gilan rephrased the sentence," you and he will get along well, if you ask me."

" Oh?" Aaron countered grinning and cocking an eyebrow. " What makes you say that?"

Gilan gave a sort of smirk at Aaron, getting a very obvious, sly sort of look to his features astride Blaze as he leaned slighlty towards Aaron.

" I dunno," he replied, his voice a bit menicing and michievious as he went on to tell the boy, " it's just a feeling I have, that's all." Gilan took Blaze a stride or so ahead of Aaron, who stared after him, looking very irritable, but smiling none the less as he followed after the brown mare.

Gilan chose a path that wove and spun around in the trees, having them trek their horses through any small stream or trickling lanes of water, made only after a good rain storm,they came across while they rode along.

" They don't have dogs," Aaron informed Gilan later, " no need to worry about out scent trail."

" They might get some," Gilan replied, "besides, it doesn't hurt to be careful." To this Aaron nodded, as it was true enough. " It's more then just hiding a scent trail too." Now Aaron looked at Gilan, a bit befuddled by what he meant by this.

So, Gilan explained. " It's a good way to throw our followers off, confuse them a little, and hides our tracks too, in the small streams and such. At least for a short time." He pointed down into the mucky water of the stream they rode through currently.

" Oh," Aaron commented, realizing the importance of this simple action now, " forcing them to spend time re-finding the trail once they lose it in the muddy water." His eyes fell on Gilan with a new found approval of the Ranger. " Very clever." Gilan grinned at the compliment.

" I do my best." he answered, proudly.

Thus they moved on, trying to cover their tracks as best they could as they went along.

However, the ground was still damp from recent rain storms. It was the rainy season in Araluen this time of year, and unfortunately for Gilan and Aaron this worked less in their favor. The horses tracks, though not totally clear to an amatuer tracker, could be easily found by anyone with even the slightest inclination on how to track anything. Expert trackers would not only find this child's play, but be able to point out their general direction, and that worried Gilan a great deal.

Not all was lost, though. They did have the streams, which, when used correctly, could keep any followers at bay for hours. Once more, because of the rainy season, there were many all over the place that they could cross between to keep their tracks lost for even longer, the only sign being the free tracks left between one stream to the next. This combined with the fact that Gilan wove and twisted the path around made it nessicary for anyone following to search around for miles along stream sides, seeking a trail, in both directions of the stream.

This did waste a lot of precious time. That was another problem. Wasting all this time trying to keep these men off their trail was going to double or even triple the amount of time it would take to reach Redmont without any pursuers.

True, they could split up, but Gilan wasn't fond of that idea. Aaron not only didn't know the land, he didn't have any sense of direction in the least. Gilan was amazed that the boy had even made it to Araluen at all, that was how poorly Aaron knew his way around. For someone who seemed so smart, the poor boy had no idea what way to turn, when, or where. It proved to be an even bigger problem now, in this situation.

No, it would be best for them to stay together, as it greatly bothered him to let the boy go out of his own. Vaguely, he wondered how Aaron's Master had the will to send the boy out all this way.

Gilan assumed Aaron had traveled a great distance by how well adapted the boy was to the lifestyle on horse back. Gilan had seen enough to know that Aaron was not only okay with costantly moving, it was actually as normal as breathing for him.

That left Gilan still more curious about all this. To say the least, it appeared, that Gilan had taken Aaron under his wing, at least for the time being. Still, this did nothing for their present pardiciment,which was unfortunate. They would find that out soon enough, by what happened next to them on their journey.~~~

All done. Read and review. This is actually just supposed to lead up into the next chapter really. You'll all have to wait for that chapter though! XP Vacation, here I come!! XD


	9. Jump!

Guess what, kids? I'm back!! A new chapter for all of those who may have been waiting. Enjoy.~~~

Really it was just a mistake. No signs had appeared of them being followed. They were getting along well enough, though still pretty awkwardly after Aaron had exploited the fact that Gilan had followed after him for an alterer motive then to simply help the poor boy out.

Still, they weren't terribly bad off. Aaron looked pretty wear to Gilan, so he began to offer taking first guard duty to allow the young man to get more rest. However, Aaron always insisted on taking first watch, as he, apparently, preferred it to second watch for the night. After a bit, Gilan began to think he just shouldn't ask anymore, but the dark rings under the boy's eyes reminded him constantly of Aaron's tiredness. This became the reason he prompted ever night, no matter how tired he himself was, to ask to take first watch. Aaron stubbornly refused for one night after another.

Still, Gilan would ask none the less. Despite his tired look, Aaron was still as active as ever in the daytime. No matter how worn out he was, the boy just kept pushing forwards into the forest at his determined pace.  
It was still as hard and none stop as it had been the first day that Gilan had joined up with Aaron. If nothing else, Aaron was a very hard worker, even in these discouraging times. Gilan was glad for that.

One night in particular, they set up camp along the top of a cliff, a river roaring and splashing about down at the bottom of it. To Gilan this was a slight annoyance he needed to block out of his mind. Aaron however, found the sound very soothing. Actually, the constant cashing sound of the waters proved to be the greatest of comforts for his troubled brain. It interrupted his thoughts, thoughts that lay well away from where he was and what he was doing, or even where he was going. No, his thought lay to the land he'd passed, with the Master he'd left so very far away from this island of Araluen.

" You really like all that noise from the river?" Gilan asked, over his dinner. He'd gotten used to Aaron's ravenous way of eating, and could now have an easy meal without the slightest discomfort from the way the young man seemed to eat without chewing. Aaron nodded, swallowing hard on the soup in his bowl, and licking his lips greedily.

" Like it? It's the most comforting sound I've heard since I got to this nation of yours." he gulped down some more of the broth, while Gilan stared at him like he was crazy. Seeing Gilan staring, Aaron could only shrug to him.

" When I was young, my Master and I spent a great deal of time in one town in particular. We rested and relaxed there for a the majority of the winter months, as we could go no farther forwards without walking into a bitter, cold blizzards that are common in a Skandian winter." he spoke thoughtfully slouching down, and setting his empty bowl to the side and out of his way. "We hunkered down for a few months. The town was right next to the most beautiful river side I've ever seen in my life. Nothing has ever looked so unbelievably gorgeous to me as that did, though a few places have come close." he spoke of the mystifying sight in the most peaceful way that Gilan hadn't seen from Aaron to date. The boy smiled in the relaxed way an old man does in a rocking chair on a porch side watching his grandchildren play in his yard.

"Anywhere in that town, no matter where you went, at that time we stayed there, you could always hear the river splashing." he explained. Gilan gave a slow nod, rather solemn now. He too now, set his bowl to the side, and allowed the thought to wander about his brain for awhile.

" It sounds like you travel around quite a bit, Aaron." Gilan replied, getting a frown from Aaron this time as he shook his head once at the Ranger.

" Like you hadn't figured that out already." he answered back, annoyed with Gilan's response to his romantic talk of the river side.

" Well, did you like it?" Gilan asked, and Aaron froze where he stood for a minute. He stood there, almost like a statue, looking at his feet, thinking over this question for a great deal of time that most wouldn't need to come up with an answer.

" I did. Still do." he finally said, stretching his arms and grunting while he reached towards the stars. Aaron sounded more convinced of this then he felt, and he made sure he did on purpose. To be honest, Aaron had asked himself if he liked traveling, and had no clear answer for himself for this question. Then again, how could he possibly live a stationary lifestyle? Who would he stay with other then his Master . . ?

" I see . . ." Gilan murmured, and a silence stretched between the two of them.

This only lasted a short time, as shiver suddenly hit it's way up Aaron's spine.

Looking around, his whole body tensed, his muscles squeezing together, twitching with the urge to spring and run away.

" Somethings not right." Aaron told Gilan now. Gilan nodded. He'd noticed too.

" Why didn't the horses warn us?" the boy glanced over at the horses to his left.

" Can't hear anything coming so close to the river," Gilan muttered in reply to him, " if somethings after us, it must be downwind of them too." Aaron frowned, but said nothing.

So like Halt, still. The young boy nodded his understanding to Gilan.

Then, all at once, Aaron's face lights up, and a twinkle enters his eyes.

" I've got an idea on keeping these guys off our backs at least until we reach Redmont Fief!" he whispered, excitedly, going over and raiding Gilan's packs on Blaze's back. Blaze grunted disapproval of this, but nothing more while Aaron looked through the packs.

" What are you doing?" Gilan asked, unsure of how to react to the sudden invasion of his belongings by Aaron. Finally, Aaron pulled out what he needed. A rope.

" Ah! Here we go!" Aaron exclaimed, going over to his own horse this time, and working the horse around the stallion's neck. " Gilan, grab what you'll need for a few days travel, quick. We don't have much time to get this to work."

Baffled, but ready to give whatever this idea was a try, Gilan did as he had been told. After tying the rope around Rurin's neck, Aaron tied the other end of it to Blaze's reins.

" Have Blaze follow Rurin for the time being."

" You heard him, Blaze." Gilan instructed, and the mare tossed it's head to show it's understanding. Aaron grinned, glad to see his plan was working out so far.

" Off with the two of you then." Aaron instructed Rurin, and both mare and stallion clopped away at a fast walk. " Good boy." Aaron murmured at the receding figures or the horses. Then he turned to Gilan and smiled.

" What next? What's this plan of yours?"Gilan inquired, ever the curious one, Aaron noticed for the first time. He smiled at the older man, and was about to start to explain it when he was interrupted.

" You're surrounded, Aaron!!" Came a shout while, slow and sure, a huge sort of semi-army crept up in a half circle around Gilan and Aaron. Aaron gave a mocking chuckle, hand on his hip in that very un-masculine fashion once again as the semi-army came nearer to them.

Gilan couldn't place these people. Not one of them appeared to be a recognizable ethnic group from Gilan's mind. These were not Skandian, nor Gallican, not any race Gilan could place. They were clearly a cavalry, all mounted on horses, and carrying the appropriate equipment for a cavalry man. These men wore black uniforms though, with a blue insignia branded on the shoulders and left beast of each man. Not that this helped, Gilan couldn't place this symbol either. Nothing about these people seemed familiar, almost as if they weren't from this world at all. They were clearly human beings though, so that couldn't be.

" Urosia," Aaron's voice was thick with sarcasm and contempt as he spoke onwards,"pleased to see me, I'm sure."

That's when this Urosia took a step forwards. He, too, was a bulky man, much like the majority of the others, similar to that of a Skandian, but clearly not. He was tall, and easily distinguishable from the others around him from his commanding mannerism. The only thing different about his uniform that showed his superior rank was a bit of a gold pin that glowed slightly only when the moon hit it just right.

The cavalry leader looked to have ridden a hard ride himself and appeared to be a tired man in his early forties. The throngs of curly brown hair were held back in a loose ponytail that trailed down only to his upper back. However bits of his brown curls had freed themselves from the restraint, and he made no motion to put them back into confinement.

" As always, you show no respect for us, Aaron." Urosia's voice was a deep, loud one, clearly used to shouting orders to others. There was an unusual crispness, hinting to an accent in his voice that Gilan couldn't identify, once again. The man Urosia commanded were clearly well disciplined, for they kept steady and calm, moving one when motioned to do so by Urosia.

" Because I have none for the lot of you." Aaron gave such a sadistic sort of smirk, Gilan began to wonder if this was truly the boy who had spoken so romantically of the river side only a short time ago.

" The message, Aaron," Urosia prompted, firmly, in a way that almost seemed to demand compliance to the one spoken to, " give it to me." he motioned the men forwards another step.

Both Gilan and Aaron stepped back, Gilan glancing over at Aaron.

" No." Aaron replied, his defiance seeming to be out of his very nature. Like it had been engraved into the boy's heart at birth even. Urosia had been frowning from the beginning, and did even more so at Aaron's answer to his request. This wasn't the reply he wanted to get from the boy.

" Let's not make this messy, Aaron. You've got nowhere to run." he said, advancing his men even closer. Clearly, he was not a man who took well to disobedience from anyone.

Aaron cocked his head to the side, smirking still more now in a ghastly expression of contempt for this cavalry man. The boy shifted on his feet unable to sit still while Gilan and he were being cornered.

" I'll get away again, Urosia. You'll never catch me." Aaron said still, stubborn as ever, it seemed. Urosia was quit baffled by this. The boy had nowhere to go.

" Really?" Urosia was unconvinced by this show. This sounded like a classic bluff to him. A ditch effort to try and sneak out of here with his life intact. His dark eyes fell on Gilan. Would Aaron leave the other man behind so that he could get away? Like bait? Truth be told, Urosia wouldn't put it past Aaron to do something to this effect. " I'd love to hear how you plan to get away this time. My men have blocked off any route out of here."

Aaron only kept smirking that evil way.

" You'll see, Urosia, you'll see." Aaron assured him, backing up a bit more, his heels at the edge of the cliff. Gilan was next to him, looking a bit nervous about this.

" Sorry about getting you mixed up in this." Aaron apologized softly to the Ranger who looked over at him. Gilan gave a grin at Aaron.

" Ah, well,I'm always getting into trouble. Nothing new here." he replied, chuckling a bit at this. Aaron was glad to hear that Gilan was still in good humor.

" Be ready." he informed Gilan, who nodded once to his understanding.

" Well, I'm waited, Aaron!" said Urosia, waving for his men to move slightly closer again.

That's when Aaron made his move.

Spinning on his heels, Aaron grabbed Gilan by the arm, shouting as Gilan turned round too.

" JUMP!!" And down they fell off the cliff side, leaving Urosia and his man shouting and staring in amazement as their forms disappeared into the black river below. ~~~~~~~

Was it too obvious what they were going to do? I kept thinking that it might be sort of obvious what would happen, even though I tried to make it seem unexpected. Until next time, Read and Review.


	10. The River Rescue

YAYS!! Chapter 10, ready to be read!! Things are going pretty well, and I thank anybody who's been nice enough to follow this story along since the beginning. Without further delay, here's chapter 10.~~~~~~

The water was freezing once they hit into the river. There wasn't much time to worry about this, however. The current was strongest where the two of them had landed,and after plunging under water they had to struggle up to get a breath of air. Gasping as he came above water, Aaron arched his neck around, trying to claw against the current that pulled him back dispite his best efforts. The river tried to pull him under again, Aaron strained a good amount of time just trying to keep his head above water. Finally keeping his head high enough above the water's service, Aaron glanced around.

" Gilan!!" he hollered, his voice scratchy as water rushed down his throat. Coughing, he looked around again, desterately searching out the Ranger."Gilan!!" he tried again, panic gripping at his chest, constricting his lungs some.

There wasn't any sign of him around the service, at least, that Aaron could see. Could Gilan swim? The horror that the Ranger might not have such a skill came as a paniced, irrational thought to Aaron's head. However, he noticed his own unreasonable thought right away, pushing it off to the side for now. Aaron kicked off his shoes, and let the river claim his cloak as well. The less weight he had, the better. Then he tried to looking around again.

"GILAN!!"

"AARON!!" A reply!! Aaron spun in a circle, seeking out the voice.

"GILAN?!" Aaron tried again, still not seeing anything.

"AARON!" Turning 180 degrees Aaron finally saw Gilan's head bobbing above water. The Ranger was out in the middle of the river more then Aaron, and down river.

"GILAN! WAIT THERE!!" Aaron headed towards Gilan. Gilan was swimming, which relieved Aaron, but the current was pulling Gilan farther and farther away from Aaron. Unfortunately, Gilan wasn't an extremely strong swimmer, and so found it hard to swim against the current. He was able to get closer to the bank that Aaron was nearest to, but this cost him a good deal of energy.

"LOOK OUT!!" Aaron's cry came a little to late for Gilan. The current toyed with Gilan, throwing him against a boulder that portuded out above the water. The air was knocked from his chest, and his head hit the rock with a loud crack that was drowned out by the roar of the waters. Then it tossed him, unconsious, back fort he mercy of the waves.

The waves proved to be merciless, and he disappeared into the river before Aaron's eyes.

" DAMMIT!!" Aaron screamed to the heavens, then used all his might to dive below water. There was less under the service to look around, so finding the drifting Gilan was an easy enough task. Aaron used the current to get to Gilan faster, grabbing hold of the older man around the waist with his right arm.

Then he pulled them both above water. That was when the hard part came. Ajusting so that one of Gilan's arms was over his shoulder, Aaron had to get them both back to solid ground. That is, without slamming into rocks that the current so wanted to thrust the helpless pair against. Aaron struggled to keep above water a moment or so, then looked around, with only his head and neck above the service.

Nothing.

Crap.

No wait! They could get onto the river bank over there!

Just down the river,there was a bend. If Aaron went straight, he could head right onto the shoreline. He was glad for this, or he might have had to drift with Gilan like this for a long time if he couldn't find anywhere to head ashore.

Reaching the shore was easy for a time with it being downstream. The current pulled them along swiftly, more the Aaron could do with just swimming. That would've been slow going, because he had to care for Gilan and himself at the same time.

Then came the hard part. Getting to shore meant fighting the current that sweeped to the right. This took a great deal of time, and Aaron was as careful as he could be every step of the way. A few times the both of them almost ended up below the service again, which would once more leave them at the mercy of the unforgiving waves. Aaron had kept them above water by stopping for a mintue, then continued forwards once he'd felt stable enough to do so.

Then, at last, relief came. Aaron's foot hit the river bed!! Excitement ran though his soaking, exaughsted body, and he reached out his foot, kicking and again, hitting the muddy bottem of the river. After a short time of vaguely hitting the ground, Aaron tip toes finally caught hold of the mud. Now he felt a little bit safer, and began to walk for shore.

The water gradually fell, first below Aaron's shoulders, then his chest, and so on until Gilan's weight began to have an effect on Aaron. You see, when in water, Gilan had felt light from the help of the water, but now, the air gave no such support.

Dragging his feet, Aaron stepped onto dry land. Well, it was actually a single step. On the second one, he ended up flopping down onto the sand. His arms and legs throbbed painfully, and he panted for every breath he took.

" -H-Holy-crap-" he huffed, sand sticking to his entire wet form. There he lay, his body refused to move for a time. He could still feel the river, small waved nipping at his bare feet and ankles in a rhythem that kept up all the time that he lay. Then, his muscles screamed refusal as he pushed himself up. Ignoring it, he glanced around. It was dark still, and he couldn't see if anyone was around to see them both.

Wait, was Gilan alright? Turning, he crawled over to check if Gilan was okay. " Gilan? Hey, Gilan? You okay?" Aaron whispered at first to Gilan who remained still, eyes shut, denying Aaron's heart the relief it so desired to have.

Reaching out his hands, Aaron gave Gilan a gentle shove, then a few more forceful ones as he tried vainly to get a reply from Gilan. Anything would do. For all Aaron cared, Gilan could get up cussing and spitting, spiting him for being stupid and still be the happiest kid alive.

" Come on, Gilan, this better not be a joke." he tried again, speaking in a normal tone of voice, shaking Gilan still more then before. " Gilan?" panic pulled at his chest, strangling his lungs, and consticting his vocal cords so that it became harder for Aaron to speak.

Suddenly, his stomach twisted. Aaron turned and vomitted the water he'd ended up swallowing throughout this entire ordeal. It was more liquid then his body could take at one time. Wipping his mouth with a horrid taste in his mouth, Aaron turned back to Gilan, panting a bit.

" Gilan, Gilan . . ." he repeated this over and over again for a time. Why had he let Gilan get himself involved in this? There was no reason for involving him in all of this, and now look what happened. This was Aaron's fault, or that was how Aaron felt about the whole thing. " . . .not you too, Gilan." he murmured and was silent a moment before going on to say.

"There's no good to come from me," he whispered to himself, in misery, " and now look what you did, Aaron." Reaching out, he moved a wet tangle of Gilan's hair out of his face.

Suddenly, Gilan jolted, and started into a coughing spasm. Aaron about had a heart attack. It happened so abruptly, he leaped into the air twenty feet! Gilan covulsed in the mean time, and Aaron came to his side. He turned Gilan over, and Gilan hunched over the ground a moment, vomitting as well, and coughing up what other water had penitrated his system. Aaron stroked his back soothingly until the coughs subsided, hushing to him a bit as relief ripped through him.

Finally, the coughing ended, and Gilan only panted for breath and wipped his lips like Aaron had done as well. Then he looked around, quite confused as he had no idea what had happened since he hit his head on the rocks. In fact, it had happened so quickly, he only remembered being tossed by the waves, and made the correct assumption that he'd hit his head on some rocks, judgeing this by the fact his head was throbbing so badly he could almost feel his skull ringing from the blow.

His mind didn't comprehend the trees and sand he found himself laying on. Slowly, Gilan got into a sitting postion so he could look around a bit more easily.

Aaron grabbed his torso, hugging Gilan tightly. For a moment, Gilan just sat there staring dumbly at the boy holding on to him. Shaking his head to clear away the ringing sound, Gilan embraced him in return, smiling sadly and sighing once from his own dismay.

" Jerk, you had me worried there." Aaron cussed at him and Gilan gave a half chuckle at this. Even relieved, Aaron took to swearing his relief with fowl words.

" I'm lucky you're a strong swimmer." he replied, and getting them both to laugh at once. Aaron squeezed Gilan's torso again, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. Gilan was fine, Aaron had to convince himself of that. However, Gilan had noticed the way Aaron shivered and grew worried for the boy.

" Are you alright?" he asked now, glancing down at Aaron. For the moment, Aaron refused to let go or look up at him. Feeling himself shivering, he supressed it as much as he could. It was difficult, and he only lessened the shiver rather then getting rid of it.

" Yeah, I'm just a little cold is all." he replied, trying to smile up at Gilan, but nervously looking away from him again. Gilan was silent for the time being. It was best not to press for answers for the time being. " Say something." Aaron told Gilan.

" Huh? Why?"

" Just say something, please?"Aaron insisted, softly.

" What should I say?"

" Anything. I don't care what it is, just talk." Gilan had to take a moment to think over something to say. Aaron wasn't making much sense, but then again, the boy had spent a good part of the night swimming up to his neck in river water, against currents and with Gilan swung over his back.

" Thank you, Aaron." Gilan finally found what he felt he should say. Aaron looked up at him like he'd somehow grown another head or something of that nature. Gilan smiled at him. " I owe you my life." Aaron's eyes grew wide. Then tears filled his eyes so that they glistened bright blue. Gilan just noted his eye color now, as a sad, relief filled face looked up at him well still clinging to him

" I was the one that put your life in danger, stupid. Don't thank me for almost getting you killed." Aaron said, hiding his face from Gilan again. Gilan tilted his head slightly to the side at this answer to his thanks.

" The waves threw me into that rock, not you. I would've drowned if you hadn't been there." he said, rather lost as to why Aaron would reply like he did. Gilan felt Aaron shake his head against his side.

" You wouldn't have been in the river at all if you hadn't met me." Aaron refused to take the thanks from Gilan.

" Do you seriously think you can pin this on yourself?" Gilan asked, shocked that Aaron was ready to take on the guilt and responsibility for his almost death.

" It's my fault you got caught up in my buisness. You were right, back then," he said, reminding Gilan of their former arguement after the first attack they'd encountered together, " I should've just told you right away what was going on." Finally Aaron had voice the guilt that had built up within him. Gilan chuckled slightly.

" Truth be told, it's my own fault for interjecting myself into all of this without asking about it. Even if I knew, I still would have tagged along. Either way you'd be stuck with me." he laughed at himself. Aaron shook his head against Gilan's side now.

" You don't know that." he muttered. That was true, Gilan knew well that if he'd known what was going on he would've acted differently. Aaron was aware he was at fault and so was Gilan for that matter. However, Gilan was too kind hearted to let Aaron sit there with his guilt building up without some sort of at least semi-comfort.

" No matter, the past is the past and that's just how it is. Point is, I'm alive now, and I'm alive because you were there, Aaron." Gilan insisted, nodding firmly at Aaron.

Aaron gave a distaneful sigh at him, and was silent. " Stupid. . ." he murmured, smiling while salty tears touched his lips and stained his cheeks. ~~~~~~~~~

Wow, that was a lot of drama throw into a single chapter. What do you suppose will happen next, children? Either way, YAY CHAPTER 10!! WHOA!! Read and Review, thanks very much for reading.


	11. His Master

There's a bit of a time jump here, keep the story moving pretty well. Anyways, next chapter, enjoy. ~~~

In Redmont Fief, all was well and busy. Baron Arald walked through a square in the fief, thoughtfully. Preparations were being made for a festival for the next day, so many were busy so as to be ready in time. Not to mention there were travelers around to sell their trade and enjoy the festivities themselves. It was a cheery time, and Arald was well ready for the celebration.

Glancing sideways, the Baron noted a curious difference to some of the crowd ahead of him. He walked over, wondering what could be drawing the attention of everyone around. Arching his neck, he got a look at what the crowd was observing with laughs, or nervous glances from some others.

Into the square, on horseback, came an odd looking person. The lone rider rode with a hood up, hiding his face from the view of others, a cloak wrapped warmly around himself. His horse was a black stallion, hardly something abnormal, except . . . The boy rode bare back, no saddle to be had, or reins to control his horse. Once more, he had no shoes on his filth covered feet, making him appear, to put it bluntly, like a country bumpkin.

That was why some where laughing at the stranger to Redmont Fief. The poor lad looked as though he'd never been to a bigger fief such as Redmont before. He looked pretty silly to the native Redmont people. In fact, he looked funny to about everybody,even travelers, though they watched the boy laughing with sad, understanding gazes. Arald held back his own laughs at this young visitor, then continued on his way about his fief.

After a time of riding around Redmont, the hooded rider came up to another person who had taken to the shadows where no one had seen him, even as he had weaved his way through the crowds alone. The rider frowned down at his companion, who grinned up at him.

" Don't look so damn smug." the rider said, irked to the point of frustration. His companion's grin grew only larger and he chuckled slightly under his breath.

" I'm guessing by that grouchy mood of yours that you haven't spotted that mystery person you're looking for, Aaron?" he giggled at Aaron, who glared at him for this comment.

" Do you even need to ask me that, Gilan?" he snapped back at the young Ranger. Turning to look out at the crowd that continued to eye him up and down while he spoke to Gilan, who still remained unseen by others. " My stupid Master and his flipping codes." Aaron muttered irritably under his breath so much so that Gilan couldn't hear what he was saying.

Gilan only kept on grinning. The boy's cussing didn't bother him as much as it used to.

" Where's Blaze?" Gilan looked up and Aaron from the coil of his Ranger's hood, confused for a moment.

" Dropped her off at my Master's place," he answered, easily," had to let him know he should expect two guests tonight. Wasn't there when I showed up, so I left a note." Aaron kind of laughed and sighed at Gilan for this silly comment.

" Somehow, should've expected you to do something like that." he said, walking Rurin along side the tall Ranger as they began to move along, side by side. Gilan laughed lowly.

" Most of the time I try to sneak up on him." he informed the boy. Aaron tilted his head slightly to his choice of words.

" 'Try'?" he asked Gilan, who nodded in confirmation. Gilan had such skills at sneaking around and all these other abilities, Aaron couldn't imagine him not being able to catch everyone he meets by surprise. " As in, attempt, but doesn't actually happen-?"

" Yes, Aaron, must you rub it in?" Gilan frowned, mad at the boy. Then his smile returned to his face again. Aaron found that Gilan's smile could be quite contagious at times, as he felt a smile pass his own face. Quickly he banished it away. All that training to try to be unreadable to anyone was going to waste because Gilan was too much of a nice guy.

Gilan was thinking of something else completely, however. Despite his smile, he was a bit uneasy. This would be his first encounter with Will since he'd left the apprentice Ranger alone in Celtic, where he was captured along with Evanlyn by Skandian's to destroy the bridge made by Morgarath.

To say he'd felt horrible about the whole insident would be an understatement, and he wasn't quite sure how he was going to approach Will today. Earlier, he'd actually been relieved to find Halt and Will gone, just to put off the meeting as much as he could.

Still, they couldn't spend the entire night outdoors again, both were far too worn out not to want a place comfortable to stay for at least a short time. Although, Gilan felt that for such a small hut as Halt had, it would be a tight squeeze for four people to stay in. That and he was piggy backing off of his Master to get out of paying for lodging within the fief itself. That, however, Gilan could live with.

So, later that night, having no luck finding whomever it was Aaron had to find, Gilan led the way through the trees to Halt's residence. This was going to be a problem. If Aaron couldn't identify the person he needed to find, they could be here awhile, and surely Urosia and his men would pass through and possibly catch sight of them. Then there's the risk of getting Halt and Will caught up in all of this . . . This was a lot to consider and worry about all at once. . .

"Everything alright, Gilan?" Aaron asked, and Gilan looked lostly up at him. He looked down at Gilan from ontop of the black stallion giving a shrug at him. " You just seem a little off right now, you know? Your master won't mind us staying with him, will he?"

To this, Gilan could only grin at Aaron and laugh. "No, no, it's nothing like that. It might be a tight squeeze, but it shouldn't be a problem. I've just got something on my mind, that's all." he answered, honestly, waving away any concerns the boy had about their place of residence.

" Good." Aaron sighed in relief. There was a brief silence, and Aaron realized something, turning to ask Gilan. " A 'tight squeeze'? What do you mean?" Gilan smirked a little bit at this, and Aaron knew he was in for it then.

" You'll see, trust me." spoke Gilan, ominously in reply to Aaron's question. This made Aaron extremely nervous. Acting like he did, it was hard for anyone not to feel nervous about what Gilan said. Aaron found out fast why too.

They came up on the small hut not long after. It looked to be made for a single person, who might have the occasional guest to attend to at his house. Gilan smiled, seeing that Halt was definately back, but didn't see them right away.

He gesticulated for Aaron to follow his lead with a devious looking grin. Curiously, Aaron went along with whatever Gilan was doing. They crept close to the hut from the back, sliding along the side of it to the front porch that was vacant, currently.

Motioning for Aaron to stay put, Gilan slipped out onto the porch with complete silence. Aaron stared in wonder at this, but remained silent as Gilan had motioned for quiet.

" Gilan! Stop sneaking around!" shouted a voice from inside, and Gilan jumped nearly out of his skin at the suddenness of it. The door flung open, and out stepped Halt, grizzled and short as ever he was compared to Gilan's great height.

Gilan straightened, grinning sheepishly at the older, shorter man. Still frowning so much too. He'd been right in his thinking before. Now when he looked at Halt, he had the inkling of Aaron in the back of his mind, and he tried to suppress his giggling as much as he could. Halt raised an inquisitive brow at him. All Gilan could manage was a dismissive wave at him.

"I'll tell you later." he insisted, clenching his sides and keeping a hand over his mouth to try and hide the obvious smile on his face. Halt keep looking at him, confused, but said nothing. This only caused Gilan to go into another giggling fit, and it was another few moments before he regained himself once more.

" Where's that lad you said you had with you?" Halt asked, incredulously. " You said you had someone with you in that note. That was definitely a change for once, Gilan." he added on thoughtfully to Gilan, who laughed sheepishly again.

" Yeah? Whatever you say, Halt. He's just over here." he put in, walking over to the side of the house, gesturing that way to Halt as well. " Aaron, come on, We're busted already . . ." his voice trailed when he turned the corner and he was gone!

Halt looked annoyed when he saw that no one was there. Could Gilan be pulling his leg? That seemed a stretch for Gilan, but, then again, so did the note, so he wasn't sure what to expect.

" Was this a joke, Gilan?" Halt asked, while Gilan looked around, seeking out the young boy. Jogging a few paces, he looked all around. No, Aaron couldn't have gotten caught by Urosia without a sound, could he? No, no, that was impossible, they'd faked death to get away from them, certainly the cavalryman hadn't figured them out so quickly.

" I'm not joking," Gilan insisted, still searching vainly for Aaron," where did that boy get to?" he asked himself. Gilan walked up to Halt, a bit paniced now. "His horse is right there, come see." When he reached the spot where they'd left the stallion, said horse was nowhere to be seen!

Gilan felt like he was half loosing his mind! What the devil was going on?! Meanwhile, Halt was taking this as a prank gone sour fast. They headed back towards his home stopping on the side of it to talk.

" Enough, Gilan. Let's get inside and you can tell me what's really going on-" Halt began but Gilan shook his head.

" But he-it-ah!" he flung his arms up in frustration, lost completely. Halt had to think he was loosing his mind. In fact, Gilan was sure that Halt thought he was lost some marbles along the way.

" Come on, you can come inside and get some rest-"

" Seriously, Gilan. You look like crap right now!" Gilan felt like he was a snake with how many times he was getting scared out of his skin in the last few minutes. Halt had managed to suppress his surprise from any physical surprise, but he definitely didn't see that one coming!

Wheeling around, Aaron grinned at the two surprised Ranger's and waved in a rather perky manner to them both.

"Aaron!!" Gilan exclaimed. " What where you doing?! I felt like I was going crazy you brat kid!" Gilan scolded the boy, but kept smiling despite that he'd just had panic whip through him and then ripped out because of a joke.

" Well, that was the point! It was just a little fun, besides, you had me all worried for nothing on the way here." Aaron frowned at him, waving a finger in the fashion of a parent dealing punishment to a child. " I can deal with a cramped house, if it means I get a roof over my head, thank you!" He bowed at the waist. " I think I dealt a fair punishment by making you seem crazy."

" But what about-?" Gilan pointed towards the horses, and Aaron grinned a bit wider still at this question. He gave a loud, deep noted whistle, and from the nearby trees trotted the black stallion. The horse came right up to Aaron, and he stroked the black and white nose.

" You forgot about that, didn't you?" Aaron asked. Shame faced, Gilan nodded once. To this, Aaron only giggled at him, and patted him on the back. " I thought you might have."

" You forgot about me too, didn't you all?" came yet another voice, making all three of them waiting around outside jump into the air with another shock thrown their way. This time it was Will, leaning out the doorway from on the porch, looking at them, grinning at the surprise he'd seen from them. ~~~

Silly Will, being such a shady person and not showing up til the end. lol. Thought this was an interesting way to meet/have a reunion between Aaron and the Rangers. Read and Review please, children.


	12. His Master part 2

Felt like I was having trouble coming up with ideas for awhile there, but now I'm good, so this chapter is coming pretty fast to everybody. Please enjoy the product of my long hours of boredom. ~~~~

So, the Ranger's took to talking to one another. Gilan took to apologizing to Will about an event Aaron had no knowledge of. Aaron waited patiently while they spoke. After looking over Halt again, Aaron glanced at the ground, thinking hard on something. The three spent the period that Aaron spent thinking talking still with one another. That was, until Halt took to observing Aaron with a curious eye.

"Introductions, Gilan." he commented to his former student. Gilan glanced over, and his former master raised a menacing brow at him. " Who is this?" he prompted. Gilan grinned, sheepishly.

" Right. Halt, Will, this is Aaron. Aaron . . ." Gilan's voice trailed slightly, seeing Aaron's distracted expression. Tilting his head at his companion, Gilan wondered what Aaron could be thinking of right now. " Aaron, you alright?"

" Corin Si." Aaron murmured, thoughtfully, in the Gallican tongue. Then, he glanced up at Halt, looking intense.

" What?" Halt asked, catching the strong set of eyes with his own older ones.

" Corin Si," he repeated himself, louder this time and went on to say, " Falla ri du Chene urata nira." Halt stared at the boy a few moments, then glared suspiciously at him. Aaron blinked, and spoke again in Gallican. " Ona du Pararuea."

" Ona du Pararuea?" Halt echoed as a question what Aaron had said, and Aaron gave a firm nod of his head to the old Ranger. " Whom sent you, if you don't mind me asking?" they began to speak in the common language rather then in Gallican that Aaron was so fluent in.

" My Master," he replied, rather matter of fact in manner. Then he realized how rude it sounded and amended," he told me not to speak his name. He told me that you'd know him by his nickname just as well. 'White Stag' is what he said it was."

Clearly this nickname meant something to Halt, as his eyes showed an amazed sort of understanding.

" White Stag sent you?" Halt questioned further, and Aaron nodded affirmation, looking hopefully at the grizzled Ranger. Meanwhile, neither Gilan nor will had any idea what was going on.

Gilan was a Ranger, but he wasn't required by this job to be fluent in another language. He knew an odd ball word or two in Gallican, enough to get a muddled sentence that he couldn't understand. Will simply didn't understand a word of what was said. So neither were sure where this conversation had been rooted from.

Glancing around once, Halt instructed. " Everyone get inside." he ushered them swiftly into his home. Gilan held back while Aaron and Will went on ahead of Halt and himself.

" What's going on?" he murmured with concern to Halt. All Halt did was frown more then he had been before.

" That's what I'd like to know." he replied, and Gilan nodded his understanding. His old master glanced up at him, with clearly curious, but serious eyes. " You may have involved yourself in something bigger then you realized." Gilan chuckled at this statement.

" I was getting that idea on the way here." he informed Halt. " Aaron told me he had a message from his master to deliver to three people here in Araluen. He told me it probably wasn't anything important but," he grinned at Halt as he went on," that gets hard to believe once you've been attacked two or three times along the way here." Halt nodded, grimly, glancing over his shoulder.

" With White Stag it's hard to think it would be something pointless." he agreed, then asked. " Were you followed?" Gilan stared at him, impressed with Halt's abilities, but not surprised that he'd figured it out.

" We managed to shake them awhile back. We haven't seen anything for a few shouldn't still be looking for us, but we're going to have to be cautious about it." he answered Halt's question, and Halt gave him an inquisitive look.

" How exactly do you figure that?" he asked, and Gilan grinned again.

" When you end up jumping off a cliff into a raging river just to get rid of followers, you kind of hope that they aren't out there right now, hunting you down." he responded. There was a silence for a moment between the two, until Halt finally responded.

" Idiot." he told Gilan, blunt.

" Glad to hear you're so concerned, Halt." Gilan said, grinning still as he added. " By the way, I'm fine, thanks for asking." Halt's lips made a semi-smile.

" Of coarse you are." he replied simply, then ushered Gilan inside, before following and closing the door behind himself.

They sat in a snug circle, Halt and Gilan in chairs while Aaron and Will were seated on the floor. Aaron had helped Will in his chore of boiling water for coffee, and in Aaron's case, tea again. He fetched the tea leaves from his bad. Halt gave Gilan a curious look.

" The boy likes tea. Can't understand coffee, I can't begin to understand why." Gilan grinned when he got an incredulous look from Aaron.

" Pardon me for being so strange," he retorted, thickly back to Gilan, " I didn't realize drinking tea over coffee was such a crime around here." Gilan chuckled a bit at this, while Halt gave a thin smile.

" A strange habit I'm sure you picked up from White Stag, I presume?" Halt asked. Aaron stared at the small, grizzled old Ranger for a few moments while Halt continued to sip his coffee.

" How did you know?" he asked. Halt shook his head at these three with him.

" All these young people, bursting with questions," he said, then answered Aaron's question," White Stag always loved moving around from place to place. Came to see me after one trip he had. He was addicted to tea, straight from the leaves, as you do. Never seen White Stag drink anything different since then." Aaron grinned, pleased with the explanation.

That sounded just like his Master.

" What's it taste like?" Will asked, and all eyes fell on him. Holding out the cup, Aaron allowed Will to take and try a bit of the contents of the cup. Will tasted it, eager to find out what it was, but pretty much spat it out back out the instant he got the taste. Aaron took the cup back, laughing along with Halt and Gilan.

" Rather like dirt when I tried it, how about you?" Halt sad and Will nodded, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

" Yeah, that about sums it up." Will agreed, face twisted with disgust as he went to wash the taste away with coffee. Aaron went back to sipping the tea, looking very thoughtful now.

" Most people who first try it add sugar in, but I've been drinking it for years so it tastes fine plain to me." he told them, then added on as an after thought. " This is actually one of the sweeter flavors. You haven't tasted the really bitter stuff. Now that I even have trouble swallowing it's so strong." Will was a bit squeamish on the thought of bitter tea and drank his coffee more eagerly then previously.

" What of White Stag?" Halt asked Aaron. This drew a smile from Aaron, but the smile soon faded from Aaron's face. He looked down, running his finger along his tea cup, trying to pick the right words to say. Then he sighed.

" Hopefully better off then I think he is," replied Aaron, ruefully, " I left on strange circumstances, in the middle of a chase, with a message I can't begin to understand." Halt nodded to him.

" He coded it, I'm sure."Halt commented and Aaron nodded.

" My Master always did have a mind for riddles." Aaron stated. " It wouldn't surprise me that he hid the message with a code or riddle." Halt nodded agreement once more.

" He was always gifted when it came to code breaking." he commented, and Aaron glanced up at him, looking over the older man's details. " The best Araluen has ever seen, I'd venture to admit." to this Aaron grew a grin of gratitude at the graying Ranger.

Somehow, Aaron knew that he and Halt would get along just fine.~~~~~

This might seem a little dry, but I think it's important to tell this stuff, so do be patient. It'll pick up again soon enough. Oh, and thank you to all of you loyal readers out there. Appreciate you taking your time to check this story out. On that note, READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!! HTHG over and out.


	13. His Master part 3

Now that my cable tv is gone, my boredom rate has started going up. Enjoy the fruits of this boredom.~~

"Who are you talking about?" Will asked. Aaron noticed out of the corner of his eye that Halt let a semi-smile crease his lip for only an instant after Will asked his question. Aaron didn't mention this, of coarse.

" You wouldn't know him," Halt replied gruffly," and I suppose you don't remember him either, do you, Gilan?" Gilan was befuddled at the sudden switch off to him. " It's not surprising that you don't remember him. You met him only once before, and it was around the beginning of your training."

Gilan's brain reeled for a little bit, trying to recall his first times with the old Ranger from the back of his mind. When he was the one doing Halt's house work . . .His efforts were rewarded with a very vague recollection of a strange visitor one night.

" He was a Ranger once, wasn't he?" Gilan questioned, and Halt nodded at him. " That was a long time ago, I'm surprised I remember it at all. There was someone there with him too, right?" Again, Halt confirmed this fact with a nod of his head, which got Gilan nodding his head as well. " The only reason I do remember is because his companion was a bit younger then me back then."

" You would remember something like that." Aaron threw in some sarcasm, and got a few laughs and an annoyed look from Gilan as well. He only laughed and grinned at Gilan, gesturing that they continue the conversation that had been started before.

" Was a Ranger?" Will noted the use of past rather then present tense. Halt nodded to Will to confirm this as well. " What happened to him?"

" A mistake." Aaron bluntly said, before anyone else could speak up about it. This drew shocked looks from all three Rangers. " I don't know if he ever realized I knew what happened, but I overheard him once." With a deep breath, Aaron started the story.

" He went out on one of his regular missions," glancing around, he said," but everything went wrong for him." Will was already leaning forwards, intent on hearing the story now with this interesting start to it.

" What? What went wrong?" he asked, not at all happy with the cliff hanger Aaron had left for him. Halt hide a grin. Will was always so full of questions.

" My Master was ambushed," Aaron answered, darkly to them, " he was given false information, and so, was ill prepared for the fight that ensued. He fled for his life," his voice became soft, reverent, and maybe even a bit thoughtful as he said," I suppose the mistake could have been made by anyone. A shame it happened to my Master." Will couldn't stand this waiting for the answer.

" What happened?" he babbled out in the middle, snapping Aaron back to the present. Blinking a moment, Aaron shook his head and got the story back on track again.

" Master shot many enemies. Then came the mistake. A pair of people walked into the crossfire. . ." his voice squeaked, and Aaron found it hard to continue. Halt chimed in, saving Aaron from speaking the next part of it.

" White Stag shot and killed the two. Both died instantly, but he'd faulted." Halt explained on for Aaron once the boy had stopped. " He found that he'd killed a young, innocent couple passing by at the wrong place at the wrong time. You know what made it worse for him?" Halt had a flare for the dramatic at this point, amusing himself with the way Will seemed to be hanging on ever word said.

Aaron didn't find this as funny as Halt did, and found his vocal cords again.

" The couple had a baby." he said, somber, sad, and again, thoughtful. " Glancing,anyone could tell that Will was interested. However, Gilan was nearly, maybe even more so, was interested in the story as much as Will. " The baby was still alive, protected by both of it's parents arms." Halt turned an inquisitive eye at Aaron, but said nothing. " Now he had a problem. What would be do with the baby?"

" Couldn't he have given it to the ward to care for the baby?" Will asked, as this had been what happened with Halt and himself.

" Of coarse he could have," Halt answered, flatly," the question is would he? The answer was no." he added and Will gave a questioning look at Halt to this. "If you knew White Stag, you would know that he's a kind soul. White Stag was a kind hearted fool, through and through. Riddled with guilt at murdering the child's parents, he took up the role of parent for the child."

" He embraced all of the ridicule and insults. The expulsion from the Rangers, the banishment from Araluen, eventually, the shunning of his friends, and the almost utter end of his former life, all for that little child." Aaron's voice had grown thick with emotion as he went on and on, and the story reached it's end. Then, a silence stretched between the four of them.

" That's a great sacrifice" Will murmured, finally. Aaron was glad that Will had said it like this. Some had called his Master a fool for doing such a thing. Surely, his Master was anything but a fool, taking responsibility for the fact he'd killed the child's chance at a regular life. He might as well know the sorrow of the man whom so mistakenly had taken the life of the child's parents.

" She certainly is happy with his choice," Aaron started to laugh when Will stared, and his mouth dropped, " and yes, he did adopt a girl. The couple had a little baby girl. She always speaks the world of him, I'd venture to say she adores the very ground he walks on sometimes. As for White Stag, he's kindly to her as every. He called it his mistake. His blessed mistake." thoughtfulness filled Aaron again, and he murmured more to himself then to the others.

" Then he smiled . . .hm . . ." Aaron smiled at the memories that filled his head. Then reality hit, and the smile faded from his face.

" What message could White Stag possibly have for me after all these years?" Halt drew them back to the matter at hand. Aaron looked at him, almost dumbly for a moment before frowning profoundly more to himself then to those around him. Then, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Hell if I know." ~~~~~~~~~

That answer was quite lovely wasn't it? Well, I thought it was funny, anyways . . . Well, this is the next chapter, hope you all liked it. Reading and Review is not only acceptable, its actually encouraged. So please do so. NOW. ^^Have a nice day everyone.


	14. Cautiousness

Yet another chapter to enjoy. You're all keeping up with my updating I hope? ^^ Anyways, read on.~~~

" Everybody ready?!" Halt called out to his companions. He frowned, as Aaron came up next to him on that black stallion of his. The stallion was taller then the average Ranger horse, so the boy could look down at Halt from horse back as well as one the ground. This fact rather annoyed him, but there wasn't nothing to do about it, so Halt didn't mention it.

" Looks like we're all ready, Halt." Gilan answered, also, like Aaron, sitting tall enough on his horse that he might look down at Halt from both regular standing height and astride a horse. Halt glanced over his shoulder, and nodded, setting out with the small band of Rangers, except for Aaron. According to Gilan, apparently, Aaron may as well be considered a Ranger by himself.

" The boy has had much of the training for a Ranger from his Master," Gilan had told him in private one of the previous nights, " he's even had some variations for the traditional training we receive, although, it looks like he's also never gotten any of different parts of the traditional training as well." Basically, what Gilan had told Halt, to his understanding, was that Aaron was a smart kid. Of coarse, he would judge that for himself while they back tracked towards Castle Araluen.

Gilan had also mentioned that the boy had no sense of direction what so ever. Now, at the beginning of the day, Halt had found that rather funny. It couldn't be true, right? Well, by the time they stopped to camp for the night, he no longer thought this was funny. Actually, he still found it funny, just in a different way by the end of the day.

The boy really didn't have a clue! It was worthy of a huge laughing fit, but, as always, Halt resisted the urge to laugh out loud, containing it to a smile instead, hidden by the coil of his Ranger's cloak.

The day had gone by without a disturbance in the least. It would've been a lazy day if it wasn't for the fact that Aaron and Gilan insisted urgency of this situation, and had the horses at a canter for a good amount of time over and over again throughout the day.

Gilan also had them trekking around, just to keep an possible follower off their trail.

This, obviously, drew one question after another from will, that Halt had to answer. Of coarse, Halt also took to quizzing Will on his abilities as a Ranger thus far along the way. Which brought questions from Aaron, whom had no quells about interrupting right in the middle of this or that conversation. Or sentence for that matter.

Also, the boy had a language problem, and Halt began to worry that staying around the young man too much might get Will speaking the same vulgar language as well. Anytime Halt mentioned it, both Gilan and Aaron would shrug, and Aaron usually just swore again, just to try and get a rise out of Halt. He'd grin the entire time too. The end result would be Will answering Aaron's questions, and Aaron answering a great deal of Will's questions.

Which worked for Halt, because it gave him a chance to analyze just how much Aaron really knew. However, this process was a long and increasingly annoying one every time it happened. To say this turned into a vicious cycle in one day doesn't even begin to describe how bad it felt by the end of the day.

To be sure that there is full understanding, Halt was, in fact, one of three people that Aaron had to find. Halt knew exactly who one of the others that his old friend would want to deliver any kind of message to as well.

" There are three people my Master told me to get to." Aaron had told Halt the first night that Aaron and Gilan stayed with Halt and Will. " He never told me their names either, but I shouldn't have expected my Master to make it easy for me." shaking his head, Aaron explained to a confused looking Will.

" Nothing is easy with that man, take my word for it. Anyways, he told me to find the Gray Fox, the Black Crow, and the Sly Ferret." Gilan and Will both laughed at the last one. It sounded funny, and Aaron even cracked a grin.

" I'm assuming Halt here is Gray Fox?" Halt gave a firm nod to him at this fact.

" What made you think that?" curiosity had gotten the better of Halt on this one. Aaron smiled at him in that way that never quite reached his eyes, though the smile did crease his lips.

" Oh, that's easy. I know my Master," he put it simply, and took a moment to explain it to them in further detail, " he's rather silly, and with something like this, you would have to think in a silly way to understand it." Grinning madly, he turned to Gilan and Will saying. " Halt reminds me of a fox. Simple correlation, no offense intended." he added to Halt, who only shrugged in reply.

" White Stag gave me that name himself. So I gave him his." he said, and Aaron became interested instantly at this.

" Really?" he asked, and Halt nodded to this fact.

" Why'd you call him White Stag?" Will questioned, interested with Aaron now.

This actually got Halt to start chuckling!

Glancing nervously, Gilan could only shrug in reply to Will's worried face. Halt laughing was a rather unusual thing, but then, it was clearly at the memory, so Gilan found no reason to worry.

" The man is so clumsy, he stumbles around like a baby deer on it's first walk." Halt said, chuckling still. Aaron grew a smile that finally reached his eyes, and he let out a good, long laugh himself. He slapped his knee, pointing at Halt too, practically falling all over himself, laughing.

" That's so true!"he giggled right along for awhile too. " For someone so smart, my Master isn't very light on his feet. He's always falling all over himself, it's hilarious!" Aaron insisted, holding his sides, and tried to take a deep breath.

After a bit of time, Aaron had calmed down, giggling every once in awhile as the thought repeated itself in his head. Gilan and Will were rather confused.

" If you knew him, you'd understand." Halt affirmed to them, simply. Gilan shrugged.

" Do you know who the other two are I'm looking for?" Aaron asked Halt, drawing attention back to the present problem that presented itself to them. " To be honest, I have no idea what my Master could mean by Black Crow or Sly Ferret." Halt frowned slightly at this set of questions, thinking for a moment.

" Any message sent by White Stag would go to Crowley, obviously," Halt mentioned, then scratched his head, " but I couldn't tell you who this Sly Ferret or whatever is. I've never heard it before, and no one I can think of that remembers White Stag these days could have such a strange reference name." Halt avoided saying the name simply because Gilan, Will, and Aaron all kept laughing when it was said.

" Why Crowley?" asked Gilan now, interested.

" The two had an unusual bond, and who else could be Black Crow?" Halt said, simply. Gilan kicked himself for asking something so obvious. Crow, Crowley, obvious resemblance to the Ranger leader's name. Easy to figure out. Duh.

" We might as well head for Castle Araluen to visit Crowley. Once we find him, then we can decide how to figure out who this Sly Ferret is." the name still got laughs from all but Halt.

This all lead up to this party of four heading out several days later, after Aaron and Gilan were back to full health. This also allowed for them to gather provisions for the trip ahead of time, and for Halt to let Baron Arald know that Will and he were leaving.

(Note: Unlike Gilan, Halt doesn't feel he needs Arald's permission to leave. Telling Arald he's leaving is a formality that Halt exercises more often then one might think necessary, but none the less . . )

And that is where they can be found now, at the end of their day, setting up a campsite after a long day of riding. Of coarse, Aaron and Will were doing most of the labor sort of work that required running around, finding, catching, basically all the grunt work.

Meanwhile, Gilan and Halt took advantage of their age in comparison to the two to get out of the hard work. Gilan, of coarse, grinned like a ward boy on his first day as an apprentice.

A sound caught Aaron's ears, and he leaped at Gilan, tackling the grinning man to the ground.

Gilan was about to start yelling at him, but Aaron placed a finger to his lip to stop him from speaking. Glancing upward, Halt gave a vague nod to Aaron. The tall grass was all that had saved them from being exposed.

" Hey!" a holler came from a little ways off, and Gilan felt his blood freeze over. It was the strange accent that he couldn't identify! Urosia and his men!

" What?" snapped Halt, giving off the idea of a grumpy old man.

" We're looking out for some people. Seen any shady looking people?" asked the voice from a ways off. Aaron's eyes fell anxiously on Halt, his muscles tense and his skin crawling.

" The most suspicious people I've seen all day are you two." Halt answered, plainly back at them. There was a silence for a time.

During all of this, Gilan took to observing Aaron, though Aaron wasn't quite aware of this fact. He took in more then just the boy's bright blue eyes now. His hair dangled about his head loosely, as he'd let it out of it's confining ponytail once they'd stopped to camp. The boy's skin seemed so smooth, more then the average boy had, or so it seemed. It might have just been the twilight playing tricks on his eyes. Aaron was panting too, but very quietly, so as to remain hidden. Gilan could feel Aaron's breath, warm against his cheek.

" There was a boy, black hair, tied up and blue eyes."

" Another guy should be with him. He would be in his mid to early twenties, I think." said another voice a little ways off. Aaron glanced over at Gilan at that moment, then looked anxiously back up at Halt.

" Haven't seen anybody like that." Halt replied, in a tone that suggested that the men should leave or be at the mercy of a lecture from an old man. " Like I said, the most suspicious looking people I've seen all day are you gentlemen." There was another silence, and this too, was eventually broken.

" Fine. Sorry to bother you." one voice said finally, and Aaron and Gilan could only wait while the two left. They didn't dare get up or even move a great deal until Halt gestured for them to get back to their feet once more.

" Good ear." Halt commented, and Aaron grinned.

" My Master taught me quite a few tricks." he answered, shrugging the compliment aside. " Either way, it appears that Urosia still thinks we're alive and well." Gilan nodded.

" So it appears." he replied, flatly, getting a laugh from Aaron. " We'll need to be very cautious. So long as we give neither sight nor sound of us for the time being, there's the chance Urosia might think he was mistaken and give up."

" Should've thought of that when we were in Redmont those few days ago." Aaron said with a sigh of frustration. " It's only a day's ride away from here, there's no way that they'll miss it. Once they catch word of us, it'll only be a matter of time before they'll be after us again."

" We'll need to get a good head start on them, then." Halt stated, plain as day. Now Will finally spoke up, as he got an idea.

" I know how we can get around them and still get sleep." he said. ~~~~

What could this wonderful idea of Will's be? Of coarse, you'll all have to keep reading to find out kids. Wow, that really sounded like a sales pitch right there. Hope it wasn't too confusing, I thought it might be after looking at it later. I think it's alright though. Reviews are encouraged for all who read, so please review and keep reading! Thank you, good night!!


	15. Will's Idea

This is a short chapter and not the best I'm afraid. Sorry about that. Well, I guess I should let you all decide for yourselves if you like it or not. ~~~~~~~

And none could deny, Will's idea was a brilliant one, and really effective for what they needed to do right now. To say it was clever hardly did this idea justice.

" Will, that was an amazing idea!" insisted Aaron, jogging up along side Tug. Will grinned, climbing down from Tug and jogging along side while Aaron climbed onto Tug's back. He was rather proud of the idea as well, and glad to hear that it was working out so well.

" Gilan should be on his way."

" Right." Will panted from the jogging, and Aaron waved, then ushered Tug to speed up. Truly it was a rather clever idea, to say the least.

" What if we separate into two groups?" Will suggested, a few days ago. "They're only looking for a pair of riders, right?" He glanced over at his master. Slowly, Halt gave a vague nod.

That was very true. Given two separate trails, Urosia and his men would have to decide which to follow, or at least split into two groups themselves to be sure they found the right person that they had been looking for.

" Yes, but there's more to your plan?" Aaron asked, leaning forwards, curious. He'd heard the way that Will had said it, as though he had more to tell then just what he'd said. Will smirked slightly, and nodded to them.

" What if we switch around?" He asked them, leaving them all confused to what he meant by these words. " Huh?" Aaron voiced, bland and not even hiding the fact that he was confused. " I mean, confuse them while we go along. " Will began to elaborate for them all.

" We can have one of us jog, leaving a set of foot prints behind, then have single horse prints separate from the others, groups of three horse prints, all intertwining together. It'll confuse them." he said. They had to think over this tangling prints.

Starting in groups of two, Gilan and Will in one and Halt and Aaron in the other, the two Ranger's had the younger boys and their horses follow their own first off. First, Gilan allowed Blaze to go on, leaping off of his saddle and running for awhile.

Then Aaron doubled back, and after a bit of time, began to run too. Then Gilan took off, riding Rurin the stallion (very uncofortable, mind you) and switched places with Will. Then so on from there.

This went on for several days without a problem. Of coarse, they knew it my take several days for the army to pick up their trail again. So, they kept at it.

All the while, Halt watched Aaron like a hawk. To say that he distrusted Aaron didn't explain the half of it in all honesty. Don't mis-understand, Halt did like Aaron as a person. The boy was funny, and he felt he could relate to the boy very well.

However, trusting Aaron was another story. What made this worse for Halt was the fact that he had no reason NOT to trust Aaron. Aaron performed tasks and did chores in a timely, effective manner, but something about him just made Halt feel as though he couldn't trust the boy.

Gilan had told him at an earlier date that Aaron had told him almost all lies along the way. Halt knew that at that point. Even having this in mind, however,something about Aaron seemed very unnerving, even somewhat suspicious to the old Ranger. Something wasn't right, and Halt didn't know what. That bothered him to his wits end.

Still, the days rolled by, and just to be sure everything was going alright, on one night in particular, Halt doubled back to see what this cavalry group was up to. He was very careful as he went, and he found that Will's idea seemed to be working wonders.

During the time he doubled back, Halt spotted a set of two people searching around, following the trial that had been left by Halt and his companions. They had given up trying to catch up for the night and were heading back to join the rest of their companions in the cavalry.

Smiling, Halt returned to Gilan, Will, and Aaron, with good news to give.

But then, good tidings never do last long, do they?~~~~

Well, I told you all it was pretty short and it was. This is mostly to fill the space leading up to the next part of the story, which is a whole lot of action stuff thrown together. You'll have to wait for that a bit though. Til next time and as always, Read and Review accordingly!


	16. Silly Little Bandits

Another chapter with some new action to come. Let's get started, one and all. Read and Review!! ~~~

The plan went well, and Will had much to be proud of, as did Halt, as Will was his apprentice, after all. To be sure, it should be told that none could have expected what was to pass not long from them. Even without this clever plan, not even the great Halt couldn't have predicted such a chain of events to occur even in his wildest of dreams.

Days passing, it was Halt's turn to switch off with Aaron, who should've been off a little ways back, jogging for a time as they all had to do. A frown creased Halt's lip. No matter what Halt told him, Aaron insisted on telling Halt at any opportunity that he was a slow runner. When he came to get the boy, there was no doubt it Halt's mind that the boy would tell him in some new way of this fact.

The young one seemed to take joy at poking fun at them all, and it wasn't just restricted to Halt. Will and especially Gilan got a good taste of teasing throughout the majority of the day. If it wasn't for the fact that Halt did similar to this when he was young, he might have asked why Gilan tolerated it so much. With a quick request for forgiveness directed to his Master from long ago, Halt went to fetch Aaron before the boy got too out of breath. He slowed the black stallion, Rurin's pace down so as to catch the running young one.

The stallion became uneasy, suddenly. Forced to keep a hold on the stallion's mane, Halt had to strain at the mane hair to keep himself steady while the horse jerked around and brayed in a low tone.

" What's the matter with you?" Halt asked, gritting his teeth and forcing his muscles to pull him back on to the horse's bare back.

However, the horse didn't seem to feel like cooperating with the old Ranger, as it grunted and brayed lowly still, looking around and moving anxiously from side to side. Then, while Halt tried to calm the horse, it bucked up, almost throwing him off, and suddenly took off in a seemingly random direction.

" The hell-!" Halt exclaimed, nearly thrown once again from the horse. He had to hold on tight, because he was jostled by the horses quick movements so much.

After a short ride, the horse slowed down, and Halt was able to struggle back onto the horse's back. Gilan and Will would've been surprised by the sorts of cussing that came out of Halt's mouth at that point. Aaron's constant cursing had brought back the old, bad habit Halt had picked up from Aaron's Master all those years ago.

" Aaron, the idiot, can't even train a horse properly . . ." he spent some time muttering under his breath until the stallion bumped Halt around with a small jump in place and grunted lowly in annoyance at the rider in question to pay attention.

It worked. Halt finally looked around after settling for the third time onto the stallion's back. Then his eyes stretched wide. This time, when the horse bucked him off for maybe the forth time, Halt jumped right off of it's back, and slipped away into the trees. Then the stallion let out a loud bray, and snorted.~~

" Huh?" one voice said.

" The hell was that?" a second asked a bit too loudly, getting hit on the head and hushed by the third person. The forth was far too interested in the young man that the four had brought down.

" Just a stray horse." snapped the third to the other three members of the party.

" Well, go grab it. We could use a horse." the first said, flatly. The second scowled at the first, stomping his foot in a fury.

" If you think it's so important, you go get it!" he snarled, hotly.

" Alright, alright, don't get into such a pissy mood, Karl, Sol." said the third, dusting off his tattered pants and heading towards Rurin in the distance. Once this man got close enough he reached out, trying to pull a rope around Rurin's head, but the stallion knew better.

Instead, he danced sideways, far enough away that the man missed his mark completely. In fact, the man stumbled forwards, and his fellows laughed at him.

" Oy! Having some trouble there, Ouran?!" called Sol, now chuckling with the others. Ouran got up, turning slightly red, and ignoring them while he focused on getting the horse. Again, just as he got close and tossed the rope, the stallion trotted out of the way, snorting laughter as he toyed with Ouran. Again, his companions burst into fits, laughing at the show the horse put on for them.

Ouran gritted his teeth and got up, this time lunging blindly at the stallion. Rurin laughed at him, easily moving out of the way.

" Sure you can handle catching that horse on yer own, Ouran?!" called Karl, mocking his companion clearly, and getting the others to laugh again. Ouran got up in a flurry, and pointed at Rurin.

" Alright! Let's see you do any better!" he snapped. Karl glanced back at the other three, and after shrugging pleasantly to them, went to help Ouran try to capture Rurin. He, like Ouran, began, swaggering up to Rurin in a way that suggested his superiority to the horse. This would be his mistake. Reaching out, he tried to take hold of the horse.

At this, Rurin brayed, bucking up, swatting Karl, and knocking him into a puddle. This got howls of laughter, especially from Ouran.

" Not so easy is it?" Ouran mocked Karl, who from the ground, grabbed and yanked Ouran's leg right out from under him.

" Oy!! The fuck is your problem, Karl!!" Ouran exclaimed, and the two began to wrestle, attempting to punch and kick each other while in a wild no not. The other two simply sighed, while Sol went to go break the two up from their, the nameless forth person watched them, giggling to himself, but keeping watch over their currently unconscious captive.

Soon, however, Sol got mixed up in the fight between Ouran and Karl. Now it was his turn to give a disdainful sigh, and go over to break the lot up. This always happened. Despite that they could hardly stand each other, there was no way that the four brothers could live apart. They were all poor, and so, took to mugging anybody they came across in the woods.

True, it wasn't an honest way to live, but they were together as a family, and they tried the best they could.  
Once the fight had been broken up, they turned back, only to find that their captive had totally disappeared!~~

Slowly the fogginess faded from Aaron's eyes. However, the world around him was moving around, and that confused, He took a moment to try and remember what had happened to him. Oh, yeah, they were using Will's plan, and suddenly something hit him in the back of the head. Then . . .

" Take it easy." Halt's voice made Aaron jolt, caught by surprise. This was a bad thing as they were on Aaron's horse, and the movement caused Halt to loose his balance with Aaron at the same time. They fumbled for a few moments, and it took one firm hold of Halt's hand to keep the both of them steady.

" AH! Your just like him!" he snipped.

" Sorry, not in my head quite yet." Aaron amended, smiling at the comment. " Must be picking up my Master's habits because I've been around him so long . . ." To this thought he grew a bit sad, and gave a sigh.

" You owe your this beast we're riding a favor." Halt said, changing the topic. Aaron glanced up at Halt, befuddled by his choice of words. For a moment, there was a silence, where Halt patted the shoulder of the strong stallion as it galloped along. " No matter how I directed it, the menice wouldn't listen to what I had to say."

Recognition dawned in Aaron's eyes, and a smile passed his mouth.

" You've rubbed your stubbornness off onto your damn stallion." To this Aaron could only giggle a little bit, grinning.

" Yeah, Rurin here has saved my ass more then a few times now." he admitted, shrugging his shoulders, and offering an apology. " The reason he doesn't listen to others is cause he's specially trained to save my ass."

" Specially trained?" Halt inquired, curious, as Aaron was beginning to notice, was a trait of all Rangers, or at least the one he encountered. He nodded his head, shifting to a slightly more comfortable position then before.

" Yes. My Master trained Rurin and I rather harshly. It wasn't easy, but it gave us a sort of special bond thing, I guess," he tried to come up with the words right away, " but Rurin here knows what to do when I get separated from him, how to track me by smell, give me warning signs to attackers, that sort of thing." It seemed almost that the boy unconsciously stroked the horse's neck and mane. The stallion tossed it's head, glad to feel the touch.

" Sounds like a Ranger horse to me." Halt commented, casually, looking somewhat expectantly at Aaron. Truly, he wanted to see how the boy would react to such a comment

" Well, I wouldn't know something like that, as I'm not a Ranger, am I?" Aaron inquired, still giving a smile at him.

WHOOSH!

The two leaped in fright, twisting around to see what had come at them.

" Oh, shit!" Halt had really taken up the use of his fowl language in just the past 20 minutes. He faced forwards, looking around side to side, checking the area around them.

" That's not good." Aaron said, still looking backwards at those following them

" You got any weapons on you?" Halt inquired, seriously, edging the horse into a full cantor now. Glancing sort of upward, sort of sideways at Halt, Aaron took a moment to check what he had on him currently.

" Doesn't look like they got to stealing any of my belongings other then my bow and arrows. Still got some of my throwing knifes and my dagger." Aaron told him, looking around himself now. " Gilan and Will aren't anywhere near here, are they?" he asked, seriously.

When Halt gave no answer to him, Aaron made the assumption.

" Well, shit, we're on our own for this one." ~~~~~

Another chapter said and down. The fun is about to start now kids, and I'm hoping everyone likes as much as I'm going to enjoy typing it all up. On another note, I'm going to start up another story in a different section in the hopefully near future. All of you whom recognize the title Man and also read this story keep an eye out for it. Hoping you all enjoyed this, REVIEW PLEASE!! PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR, CHOCOLATE, CHERRIES, FUDGE, AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT ON TOP!! PLEASE REVIEW!! Thank you.


	17. Fighting: Halt and Aaron

Here's another chapter. Hope you're all still interested. ~~~

" I'm leaving the horse to you." Halt said, getting his bow ready to go, and reaching for his arrows in a very smooth, practiced manner.

" You sure?" Aaron asked, clinging onto the horse.

" What-?! Of coarse I'm sure, I'm the one with the arrows!" he snapped, as this wasn't the best time for him to be answering questions for the boy.

" You ever ridden a horse backwards before, old man?" Aaron inquired still further.

" This isn't the time to be getting into an argument, Aaron-!" Halt said, frustrated already as he needed to focus on what he was doing.

Suddenly, Aaron's arm shot out and snatched the bow right out of his hands!! Halt was caught in such surprise, that he sat there gapping for a moment while Aaron jerked an arrow from his quiver and strung it

" Steady, boy, steady!" Aaron told the stallion, and he tossed his head in reply to the command. That out of the way, carefully, Aaron brought his feet up, and pressing as gently as he could manage, got one foot up to kneel on the horse. Then he turned completely around, facing Halt.

He knocked Halt to the side slightly, took aim and fired. After that, he actually crawled over Halt, and sat back to back with the old Ranger

" Have I ever ridden a horse backwards?" Halt echoed, rather at a loss for this one. Having Aaron act so abruptly had left him rather lost for words.

The boy reached back and yanked out another arrow, stringing and firing with Halt's bow very easily. As though none of what he was doing was anything unusual or out of the ordinary.

" Well, I have. Just leave it to me. I'm tougher then you think." he insisted, sending arrows flying all the while. Halt couldn't see the pin point percision that the boy used to take down one man after another.

" You, how almost got himself mugged by a couple of street thugs, is gonna take out armored men in a cavalry?" Halt persisted, finding this a bit ironic, and Aaron let out a laugh too.

" Strange world we live in, isn't it?" he answered Halt's question with his own question. To that, Halt couldn't deny, that this was strange to him.

" Have you got a lot of arrows with you?"

" Enough that I can work with."

" I hope that's a lot." Aaron stated, plainly.

" Thirteen are left as of now." Halt gave a straight answer to him this time.

" Wow, that was a specific answer."

" Just shut your trap and shoot!" was all Halt could do to contain his anger at the sudden need for Aaron to produce small talk at a time like this. Aaron did as he was told. Rurin made a grunting noise, and Aaron glanced over his shoulder. Grabbing at a part of his clothes, he pushed a two knives into the Ranger's hand.

" Then you throw these! There's some coming from your direction!" Aaron instructed, focusing back on those who were coming at the two of them from the opposite direction. "You do know how to throw while riding, don't you?" he asked, almost mockingly of the old Ranger he rode with. To this, Halt grunted his irritation.

" Don't insult me." he replied, and Aaron actually let out a laugh at this answer to his question.

" I could say the same to you two Rangers." Now that was good timing if Halt ever heard it. It sounded so natural, but was at just the right moment. Truth be told, Halt had an inkling that Aaron might be aware of the little tests that Gilan and he had set up for him. However, this outright cofirmed what Halt had thought. Aaron was smart and observant.

Either way, Aaron was running out of arrows fast, and there was also the need to out run these cavalry men. Not to mention Halt had no idea how many more knives the boy could have hidden on his person. He'd have to ask about that later. . .

Anyways, he let his eyes flicker around, searching for some sort of escape.

" They shouldn't be able to catch us." Aaron said, almost to himself, as the knights on their horses seemed to be gaining on them. That's when Halt understood it. Why they were getting caught, why this whole situation seemed wrong.

" Get your stupid horse to listen to me!" Halt snapped at Aaron, frustrated with the horse's lack of cooperation.

" Listen, Rurin!" Aaron gave the command to the stallion, and suddenly, the stallion went jerking to the right so much that Aaron nearly fell off this time. " HEY!"

" I've been doing that all day, thanks to your damn stallion! Get over it!" Halt answered before Aaron could protest anymore then that. " Hang on!"

" That would've helped if you'd told me sooner!" he snapped, gripping tightly onto Halt's shoulder and Ranger cloak.

Aaron somehow managed to turn forwards again, and, leaning back, fired an arrow to his right. Grabbing another, he had himself ready for the next one in only seconds, firing just as smoothly as he had at the beginning of this. Rurin the horse seemed completely uneasy with this whole situation, but still did as Halt directed. He trusted Halt only because Aaron did.

" It's a trap." Halt finally told Aaron.

" A trap? How?"

" Apparently, they're very used to your way of escape on horse back. They know you well enough that they actually predicted the direction that you would go." Halt replied, quickly, hearing Aaron give a soft gasp at this. He hadn't thought of that. Well, people are creatures of habit after all, they may have mapped out a pattern as to Aaron's run.

" How would they know where I was at . . .?" it took him a moment to realize that he knew that answer as well. " The guys who mugged me were working with them? Seriously?" Halt nodded, and Aaron spent some time cussing himself and the "bastards" who had come up with this plan. " Then-"

" They don't know how I'll direct this. You've got to leave this to me." he said, simply to the boy. There was a silence for a moment, where Aaron seemed to think this over.

" You're going to do something completely stupid or at least unorthidox, aren't you?" Aaron asked, ruefully, but almost in a way that suggested that he might laugh as well. Halt felt a smirk play across his face.

" We'll have to see won't we." " I don't like the sounds of this." Aaron said, holding onto Halt's torso while Rurin sped up even more this time.~~~

Next chapter, Halt and Aaron have a plan. Well, sort of anyways. Reviews are appreciated greatly, thank you all very much!!


	18. The Plan Began and Ended

It's been awhile, but here you go. Another chapter, coming up! ~~~~

It was difficult to come up with something that would work for the two of them, and, unfortunately, Aaron wasn't in the mood to agree despite the fact that their lives might depend on it. Halt made a mental note to smack Aaron and his idiot of a Master who decided this kind of behavior in a fight was actually acceptable. It was absolutely ridiculous to try and get the boy to agree.

Still, a plan was figured out (after a great deal of moaning, groaning,etc). Both will fully satisfied with the plan laid, but it was at least mildly good with the both of them, so it would have to do. Although, Aaron was far less pleased with it then Halt was, but that was to be suspected because somehow, Halt's stubbornness exceeded even Aaron's own bull headed actions.

Tensions were high, but that might have just been because they were trying to come up with said plan while riding at stallion at a cantor with shouting and weapons raining down on them all at once. ( to say coming up with this plan was hard doesn't even begin to describe the half of it, btw)

It started, however, quite roughly, right from the start. Halt directing the stallion, Aaron carefully tried to balance himself behind Halt, shooting two arrows before suddenly disappearing from the view of those riders that were behind them. These ones became instantly baffled, but took to following after Halt rather then asking questions.

The ones in the middle, of coarse, had seen what Aaron's little trick. These ones began to surround the tree that Aaron was climbing up, sending less then half a dozen off after their others that continued pursuing Halt.

The stragglers, obviously, followed the lead the middle riders had set for them, except the one they sent back to tell their leader, Urosia, and his two follow upper officers. Aaron seemed all but caught, except the whole "getting him out of the tree" thing. That would be easy, or so they thought.

At first, no one attempted to get up the tree. After all, Aaron would give up if they simply kept the tree surrounded long enough. No need to put themselves in unnecessary danger if it could be avoided.

All the while, Aaron climbed up and out ward until the branch under his foot made a gruesome cracking sound.

This made the cavalrymen uneasy. They were instructed to take Aaron alive, no matter what. After all, Aaron had the message, if he were to die the message was lost to them unless they got it from the Master himself, which was unlikely. In fact, Urosia had emphasized keeping the troublesome boy alive. Even if the boy died by an accident, they would be punished for it.

Such as the cliff jump off incident. These men shuddered just thinking about the pain they'd been dealt for not being able to grab the boy as he jumped off the cliff with Gilan. They dare not make such a mistake again.

Then all of them nearly died of shock. After backing up a few paces, Aaron yelled, and leaped from the branch of this tree to the next!!

Shouts and exclamations of shock entered the air from the men.

Aaron hit hard into a thick lower branch of the tree next door, but quickly got to climbing and heading for the trunk of this tree. His eyes searched around for another good branch to use for another leap. Well, this had all attention on him if it hadn't been already before that.

The horsemen had to move to the next tree over, beginning to surround this tree like they'd done the first,  
this time trying to coax Aaron into coming down to them.

" Come on, Aaron! You won't get out of here alive like that!!" one shouted out, once Aaron had finally gotten firm grip on the truck of this tree. Turning towards the voice, a smirk curled across his face, and he stuck out his tongue.

" I'd rather go down trying!!" he howled to the sky, grabbing at another branch as he aimed to climb upwards again. Carefully, he edged out onto another branch from this tree, clinging to another above himself to keep balance. Then the branch under him cracked with protest.

Aaron frowned. This just wouldn't do. So, he let his feet dangle, using his arms to move himself forwards. Then, swinging once, Aaron flung off the branch of this tree and reached for the next! His arm reached out, grabbing hold of one branch that snapped instantly when Aaron's weight fell on his. Then, desperately, he reached for another, grabbing hold of a small branch that bent under his weight, but didn't break. Aaron let out a shaky breath, glancing around, feeling himself shaking.

" That was close . . ." his voice trembled like his body, making a mental note to be more careful. Quaking from head to toe, Aaron swung his legs up and proceeded to crawl like a sloth for the tree trunk once again.

Now the men below were really scared. A hand full of them swung off their horses, and started climbing up the tree Aaron was in, yelling and threatening him as they tried to catch up with him.

Once Aaron made it to this tree trunk, several were starting to get pretty close to him. However, he ignored them, heading up another set of branches before setting outwards again. A few inches out from the tree trunk, Aaron hoisted himself up another two sets of branches before going outwards.

Aaron was very lucky in the sense that he was a lithe, nimble young man in the peak of his physical condition from long days of riding and running. The men below were, for the most part, a bit older with muscle aches and stiffness from long days in the saddle. There inability to keep up with Aaron was due to the fact that Aaron was young and flexible.

So, he reached for the next tree over, cringing in horror when the tree made creaking and crackling noises, but still held his weight. This was, however, where his luck ran out.

Now, the men below were not fools, and so, had been able to predict the next tree Aaron was heading for from the direction he went out from the trunk of the tree before. Now they had several others among them already headed up the tree before Aaron had even leaped into it's branches. He couldn't go back however, or he would be caught by the men behind him.

Thus his former advantages began to fade quickly before his very eyes. Even more so, as this proved to be a more strenuous activity then Aaron and Halt had first thought it would be. Struggling for his breath as he was, Aaron knew that this plan was failing, and failing very, very quickly.

Before he even reached the trunk of the tree, one man came towards him on the same level and branch that he was one. The man held himself well enough, as someone who might have in his youth, taken to the trees as well. Carefully, he reached out a hand, offering it to Aaron so that the boy might take it.

" Come on kid, play times over. You're coming with me." he said, evenly, careful with everything but his words, it seemed. Aaron didn't take kindly to being called a kid, or being belittled by someone older then him.

That was this man's mistake.

With the thicker branches and tree trunk around the center part of the tree, Aaron felt at ease enough to hurry towards the man and stab him with one of his throwing knives that he still had with him. Caught off guard, the man grunted in pain, and fell right down out of the tree.

Those below moved out of the way and the man hit the ground with an eerie cracking sound. It made Aaron cringe even from the tree tops. He, however, didn't have much time to think about this. There were more horsemen on the way up, and they would be ready for his attacks. The really hard part was just about to start.~~~~~~

Well, was that interesting? Don't ask me exactly what Will and Halt were thinking with this plan. Seemed to be a lot of miscalculations if you ask me, but, hey, can't always get it right, can we? Anyways, read and review!! PLEASE!! PRETTY PLEASE?!!


	19. Life's End

As we all recall from last chapter, there was a supposed plan that went totally wrong. (As the title of the chapter told us, now that I think about.) So, after that pointless sentence, here's the next chapter. ~~~

" Shit!" Aaron cursed himself, reaching for the tree trunk to keep his balance. Suddenly, his foot was yanked out from under him and with a yelp he grabbed at a branch above his head. There wasn't one there, so he crashed into the branch he'd just been walking on. Flailing for a moment, he swung his ankle free of the man that had grabbed it, then kicked the man so that he went yelling to the ground.

Rushed for time now, Aaron scrambled to his feet, and had little time to choose what direction to head. And few options, others were on the way up, and would rip him out of the tree tops if they had to. Aaron found the best option he had and ran with it, literally for the first few meters. Then it was a long time period of being careful, but still trying to work fast. His muscles ached and hurt, especially his legs, but there was no stopping now.

He was in deep now, and there was no getting out of this pinch.

This is when what the knights below were saying began to have some actual meaning to Aaron. This was hard, and it would be much easier to give up then keep going like this. At one spot, Aaron looked down at the ground below and thought that he was an idiot for killing the guy who'd actually offered him a hand. That feeling quickly faded, however, as Aaron focused on what he was doing rather then things that would distract him. That and he remembered the way the man had called him a kid.

Aaron's thought produced this: Yeah, I'm the kid that kicked your ass.

Easing out onto the branch further until he heard it crack under foot, Aaron again made a running jump and grabbed for the branch he had the best chance of reaching out to.

To his surprise, or rather misfortune, he guessed the right branch. Ended up feeling pain whip up his right arm in a wave that made him gasp and cringe, but he guessed right.

" FUCK!!" he screamed out, getting the attention of those below, who watched in horror for the few moments he spent dangling off the branch. The fighters who had started climbing this tree halted just like their comrades below.

Finally, Aaron struggled up onto the branch, crawling the few meters before getting to his feet. There seemed to be a group sigh from below, but it didn't last long once Aaron sent another of their friends hurdling for the unforgiving earth below.

Fighting in the trees was no easy task for either side. Obviously, they only did so on thick branches closer to the trunk of the tree and focused on knocking each other off balance until it became too difficult for either side to feel stable on their feet. By that point it was around the time that Aaron made his brave leaps and then the process started over again. It was a vicious cycle for Aaron, who had to endure it over and over again from tree to tree, while also moving upwards and having a branch close enough to one from another tree to attempt his jump.

However, Aaron had one very distinct advantage over the horsemen that climbed the trees. He didn't have to worry about their lives. The cavalrymen were out to capture him, not to kill him. Aaron was more then aware of that fact. He'd known this long before he'd even encountered the land of Araluen or Gilan, and he used it to his advantage as much as possible. They were desperate to have him, while by dieing, Aaron could destroy their only hopes. That, for some reason, was a very soothing thought whenever Aaron thought about it.

Either way, Aaron had to focus or face his possible death, which nobody wanted at this point. The pain in his right arm felt horrible anytime he forced the arm to lift his up from one place to another, but Aaron did this so much, that the arm felt numb within the same tree he'd wounded it to get into.

Getting close to the trunk, several fighters were ready to meet him already, and several below that would probably try to yank his feet out from under him like the others had done. Aaron had to make this as quick and painless for himself as possible.

When the first came at him, Aaron hauled himself to the branch above himself, then swung into the person who had attacked him, knocking him instantly from the branch and out of sight. Landing quickly, he ran and grabbed the trunk to keep from falling. Turning, he gasped, taking his left arm to take hold of the branch above himself again, but too late.

The man's sword, though wielded very clumsily, cut a pretty good gash across Aaron's stomach before he could get out of the way. Bouncing back, Aaron swung around slashing a man with one of his knives again. He needed to be careful, he only had four knives on him still, as the rest he'd already thrown or given to Halt to use. Stabbing the man, he fell back and out of sight while Aaron spun and kicked another out of his way. Using this momentum, Aaron tripped another that fell out of sight. Then he set to climbing up and out again, watching the people below him suspiciously.

Several had already started to climb down, as they weren't close enough to be considered helpful, while the ones that were close enough to be helpful were still below Aaron, and would most likely grab at his feet and ankles.

Suddenly, out of no where, both of Aaron's feet were thrown from under him, and he fell into the branch with a loud "OMPH!" Two horsemen had come up with a plan, and somehow ambushed Aaron in the confusion of the fighting and the tangle of leaves, twigs, branches, and the occasional bird's nest.

However, they hadn't accounted for the next series of strange events.

To start, instead of just staying in place, Aaron rolled over to get off his wounded stomach that had just been dealt a hard blow into a tree. Well, here's the thing, he's in a tree. IN A TREE. There was no where to roll off TO.

Aaron ended up rolling himself right off the branch and hurdling to the earth towards a fate he'd dealt to so many others already today. That was a bit of irony that would be hard to swallow later. Spinning, Aaron grabbed and reached for anything he could get a hand on to stop his falling.

This was the incident that made Aaron appreciate those lovely idiots we all so hate, but couldn't stay alive without. One of the horsemen below Aaron had a spear with him and was struggling to get a hold on a twig that simply couldn't hold his weight. Being the not brightest color in the rainbow as he was, the butt of his spear was sticking out, while the point was stuck into the tree so he might get some leverage and advance upwards.

Aaron, having only been falling a few meters or so at that point, had snatch a hand onto the spear butt with a frantically swinging hand. Aaron had even surprised himself with this catch. The spear shaft creaked and cracked like the tree itself did when it could no longer hold a certain weight.

It snapped quickly, but it had sent Aaron swirling and launching out his hands in any direction to attempt to grab a hold of something else.

With this new spinning, Aaron was thrown into a thick branch with a loud yell of pain escaping Aaron when his back hit the bark. Thrown out into the air again, twigs ripped and slapped at all of Aaron leaving scratches and bruises that would not soon be forgotten. Then he slammed into another thick branch, this one causing him to shout out again though it hit his side, before the fall finally ended when Aaron finally flopped into a third obese branch and was still, his leg dangling in the air, limp and lifeless.~~~~~~

Whoa. Didn't see that coming did you? What now? REVIEWS ARE ENCOURAGED!! Thanks for reading.


	20. Life's End 2

Last chapter had a lot going on, didn't it? Well, here's what happens next. ~~

A shock wave ran through Urosia's men. The initial surprise was the worst of it. Aaron was killing their own comrades one minute, the next it seemed the boy lay limply on the lower branch that most anybody could climb up to with enough effort. Several who recovered from the surprise first and for most climbed up the few branches it took to reach the inert form of the young boy, met by others that were making there way back down to the ground. The three that met first off glanced at once another briefly.

" Alright?" one asked. One of the two who'd just climbed down nodded slowly.

" Yeah, fine." said the second, nodding too.

" Going from tree top to tree top," the one who'd only nodded murmured, half in wonder, half in complete disbelief, " this kid is really something."

" Yeah, something pretty stupid." said the first, shaking his head as he turned to look at the boy. The other two got rather upset at this.

" Excuse me for saying, mister can't get his ass off his horse, but you don't have any right to say anything. All you did was guard the tree." said the third one who'd gotten the closest to the top of the three. " The boy was working to survive, no matter how insane it may have looked from ground level."

" Yeah, the boy had guts to even attempt such a thing. Look, he made it through seven separate trees."

" And killed five of our own men, knocked two unconsious, and about nine other men with mild concussions and other injuries." snapped the first at them. This got the other two to be silent. " I'd rather not hear praise to the boy who'd caused so many deaths amongst us all."

This was true enough. All in the cavalry had some friend or at least mild acquaintance meet his end during this journey they'd taken. There was one point when they weren't even sure Urosia himself could make it through a rough illness back in Gallica. They'd been lucky that he'd pulled through it. Hardship hadn't been Aaron's alone, all of them had been dealt a degree of harshness in this pursuit.

" True." the second murmured.

" Still, there's no denying the kid had guts." the third insisted, stubbornly to them." It's hard to believe that the boy's really dead though." he whispered, crouching down carefully to gaze more at level with the still mass in the tree.

" We sure he's really dead?" asked the first, bland toned.

" The boy fell from way up there," the second pointed up into the trees at one spot in particular, " Can you imagine anybody surviving a fall like that? I dunno about you but I sure can't."

" It might be better to be dead with the pummeling he got on the way down." said the third one, agreeing with the second, beginning to climb back down with the first.

" We'll all going to be pummeled for letting the kid die." the first answered, sourly, and descended in an overly cautious way.

The second watched them go, still crouching beside the still body, then glanced over at the body. His eyes held a certain degree of respect that all who were in this band of men should have, in his opinion. The boy out smarted, out ran, out did them in so many different ways to the point he'd died. For that, this man felt he deserved the respect he felt well up in his chest as he looked at the dead form. Reaching out a hand, he patted the boy's hair.

" Nice job, boy," he said with a solemn smile, " nice job." with that he gathered Aaron up in his arms and descended with him.

Laying him down, there was a huge fuss over what to do next. Aaron was dead, and they were going to get beat for it. Then what after that? The message was almost lost to them now with the boy dead. They'd spent all this time and effort, to the point of near death situations, to try and catch the boy. Now he was gone.

WHISSHHHH!

THUMP!

All at once, they were under attack.

Men shouted, some still making their way down from the tree while others fumbled for weapons and shields at the same time. Some hurried to their horses, and the crowd became a mass of confusion. The organization was a mess now because they had thought there wouldn't be any more battle necessary. Aaron had been their focus, and with him gone there had been no apparent threat around. This had been a misconception. Arrows whipped past, most hitting into the ground or a tree trunk in these woods, like the people in question were aiming to get them all a mess.

It had worked though, and four horses stormed in, but only three with riders. Some of these cavalry tried to get something of a formation put together, but with no luck. The Ranger's arrows pushed them back, forcing them to take to the woods around them for protection from the attack.

" Get Aaron!" Halt shouted to Gilan, still sending arrows flying while Will did the same a few feet to the side of them.

Leaping down from his horse, Gilan crouched down and scooped up Aaron, then quickly headed for the stallion and his own mare. Laying Aaron down on Rurin's back, Gilan remounted Blaze. Carefully, Gilan pulled Aaron over to ride with him on Blaze.

" Let's go!" he shouted, and they began a retreat, Halt being the last to ride away. The horses ran at a cantor, the black stallion braying once before they disappeared completely from the cavalry men.

They rode for a long, hard cantor, doing their best to try and head through any streams or things that could hide their tracks. Finally satisfied, they all slowed down and finally stopped once Halt had given the word.

Carefully, Will helped Gilan get Aaron onto the ground. His eyes grew wide, seeing the blood that seemed to be drying up at this point as some large scale bruises.

Halt took over taking care of his injuries, ordering Gilan and Will to help him as he dealt with one injury after another. All throughout all of this, Aaron remained unchanged, possibly dead or so it seemed.

" Is he-?" Will began to ask, but Halt shooed him away to get more water for them to clean the wounds with. Gilan watched the transaction, then came over to Halt, a hand full of bandages in his right hand.

" Here." he handed it to Halt, who took it without looking up.

" Hold him still." Halt told him. Gilan helped get Aaron into a sitting position while Halt used the bandages Gilan at given him to wrap around Aaron's neck, making a sling of his right arm. " He busted this arm pretty bad with that stupid stunt he pulled." Just as carefully as before, the lay Aaron down and Halt frowned. He hesitated for only a moment.

Then he pushed the boy's shirt up, but only far enough that his stomach was visible. Halt gave a sigh at the large bruises and the gash across his abdomen.

" I'll go get more bandages." Gilan said, hustling up to his feet. Halt shook his head, patting Gilan on the shoulder a few times once he'd gotten to his feet as well.

" I'll get it, you stay here." he said, firmly, not that Gilan was in the mood to disagree with him. With a weary smile he knelled back down on the ground while Halt moved stiffly away.

Gilan's attention, however, was on Aaron by now. He simply looked at the paled face of the boy, then from one wound to the next, no matter if they were bandaged or not. Reaching out a hand, he brushed a tangled bit of black hair away from his face and eyes. What was it that he was feeling? Seeing the boy like this, it hurt for some reason. Gilan felt it within himself, somewhere. Poor boy was still so young too . . .

Halt returned to a scene he hadn't been expecting. True, he'd left to test out something, and had gotten a result.

It just wasn't something he'd been expecting to see.

Leaning down over the still, motionless form, Gilan pressed his forehead gently to Aaron's. He stroked the boy's hair gingerly, as if putting any sort of force on it would turn Aaron to dust or sand. He whispered, hushed words to the quiet figure.

It may seem strange, but Gilan and Aaron had become close in this short time. They spoke little of what happened in the past, it wasn't a big topic for Aaron and he grew sad when he talked of it.

Mostly they joked together. The constant teasing and pecking they said back and forth during a day's time period. Like the way Gilan constantly pointed out Aaron's lack of skill with directions. Aaron had this long standing teaser, insisting that Gilan couldn't cook for his life. Every time, Aaron would end up begging for Gilan to come cook once Gilan told him to cook himself.

" Stupid, you never did tell me what was wrong with my cooking." Gilan remarked in a murmur, then sat up again.

Halt waited a bit, pretending he hadn't seen what Gilan had been doing, then walked up to him bandages in his hands. Gilan glanced up at him.

" Sit him up again." Halt said, kneeling down,and Gilan lifted Aaron up again. " Don't die on us, kid." he told Aaron, and Gilan suddenly laughed.

" He won't die," Gilan replied," he's like you. Aaron's simply too stubborn to die."~~~~

So, basically, I've told you jack shit in this chapter. Gilan is certainly sure that Aaron is alive, though. He's so nice that way. ^^ Anyways, I appreciate all who take the time to leave a review for me, so please send them my way!!


	21. Gender Bender!

Yet another chapter. I'm a little worried about adding this one, so I hope this is all right with everyone reading. Give me your opinions, please. Meanwhile, on with the story.~~

So, after a long while, the three Ranger's finally set up camp. It was decided that they had to stay put for the time being as Aaron's condition was obviously not good. They'd found a good spot to camp, and began to use trees and other things to hide it. Aaron had a separate place from where they would be sleeping, and one person was assigned to keep watch for both the cavalrymen and Aaron.

They were being very careful and for good reason.

Well, Halt was feeling a bit guilty. They'd made this plan that was dangerous from the start. Now, with Aaron as he was, Halt couldn't help feeling a bit responsible because he was involved in forming the plan.

To be totally honest, it had been a hit to all three of them. Aaron was only a few years older then Will, so they'd taken well to each other. Well, the next closest in age to him was Gilan, who was nice enough, but it wasn't anything like having someone who was actually his own age around though.

Halt had taken a liking to him, as, and Halt couldn't deny this himself either, Aaron and the old Ranger were very similar. Aaron was very pleasant and friendly, don't be confused. But, the young boy was also smarter then someone his age should have been. He also had a contagious curiosity and interest in everything that simply couldn't be topped. His intent an just overall focus was something quite marvelous to see.

However, Gilan, for obvious reason, took this the hardest. Because of this, he was given the final watch for the night after Halt. After being roused from sleep, he focused on keeping watch for most of the time, only vaguely glancing at Aaron from time to time.

The boy was still the whole time, but seemed to be resting easily rather then hurt because the covers were pulled up to his neck. That got Gilan to smile a bit, and focus on watch again.

Soon the sun began to rise over the horizen, sending the world glowing golden and silver in the early morning mist. Gilan was focused on watch, and only noted in the back of his mind that this was a very beautiful morning, without the hints of rain that had been hanging around in the recent times. Slowly, the yellow light had turned to gold, dew sparkling in the grass and brush as well as on the trees. It was going to be a warm day.

A groan from behind made Gilan leap into the air at it's sudden interjection into the peace of the dawning , Gilan heard another small moan, the sound of wakefulness, and it wasn't coming from Halt or Will in the other sleeping space across the way. Slowly, Aaron began to get up, not even opening his eyes.

" Take it easy, Aaron, you're all right." Gilan got hit with a wave of relief and thanked whatever was out there watching over Aaron right now. However, he stopped, caught off guard at this next part.

Aaron's eyes fluttered open, first only seeing his own lap and hands, er, hand, rather, because the other was snugly set in a sling. It took him a minute to figure out what had happened, as it hadn't been the most pleasant of things to feel. Being unconscious for a long period of time did nothing for ones brain, so it took him some time to jump start his brain again. After a few moments he'd basically pieced together what had happened in his brain.

Glancing at the sling on his arm he began to take in his surroundings this time.

" Hey, Gilan," he said grinning tiredly at the staring Ranger, " didn't worry you too terribly much, did I?" he asked, then took note of the long staring that Gilan was giving him. " You alright, Gilan?" Then Aaron realized what was going on, and fumbled with the covers. " Listen, I can explain-!"

" Aaron! Are you up?" Will burst in now, having gotten up to make food and gather supplies for the campsite. He came in right in the middle of this strange little scene. Looking from one to the other, Will glanced rather dumbly from one to the other, noting the blushes that were so clear on both faces. Aaron finally attempted a smile at Will.

" Yeah, I'm up." he said, almost sadly, while Will gave a sigh of relief.

" How's the wounds that you've got?"

" Did you really just ask that question?" Aaron cocked an eyebrow at him, quizzically.

" What?"

" Painful, what the hell other way is there to describe an injury but painful?"

" Well, there's no need to be snippy about it."

" I'll make sure to ask you how your wounds are the next time you end up unconscious."Aaron promised, giving a sigh and laughing a bit at this. Suddenly, Gilan and Aaron's eyes caught each others' again, and their faces flushed again.

" What's going on with you two?" he asked, finally annoyed that he was out of the loop in this entire situation. Looking up once at Will, Aaron sighed, finally resolved.

Then the blanket was lowered, and then Will knew why this was such an awkward situation. That and why the two kept turning red. Aaron frowned at them.

" You don't have to keep looking at them, you know?" Aaron said, flushed greatly while crossing his, or rather, her arms. Will turned right around then, while Gilan handled this a bit more maturely, and pulled the covers up around Aaron's shoulders. " Don't be such prudes, there's nothing to see, my breast are bandaged to my chest for crying out loud. There's nothing to see even if you really were that interested."

" Aaron-" Halt walked in just then too, and Aaron let out a loud, frustrated shout.

" Tell the whole world why don't you, God?!" Aaron snapped to the sky." Hand me my shirt before these two die of embarrassment." pointing, Halt grabbed the shirt and handed it to Aaron, who had to get help from Halt to pull it on with the sling and such on.

" Just let me explain this to you guys before you say anything. It's really not what you think."

" So you haven't been telling a lie about the fact that you weren't a boy this entire time?" Gilan inquired, half laughing to himself about it. He spoke somewhat miserably, knowing that he'd been lied to again by Aaron. This definitely topped the list though.

" Please, don't be like that." Aaron answered, giving a rueful laugh. " You want me to say it? Yes, I am, in fact, a G-I-R-L. I'm a girl." Reaching out, Aaron touched Gilan's hand, that was still in reach, turning him to face herself. A sad smile passed her face as she looked Gilan in the eyes.

" But everybody things I'm a boy. I dress like a boy on purpose." Thoughtfully she added. " I'm kind of only a girl in private. Everything else I'm a guy."

" But this whole time, you've been . . ." Will let his voice trail when Aaron turned a glare of hot fury towards him and a frown creased her lips.

" Don't say it like that," Aaron's voice was tense for a moment, then finally released into a sigh of failure. Shaking her head she went on, " I'm still Aaron, even by name. Nothing is different or changed, expect I've wounded your trust and you're all hurting my feelings."

Earnestly, she looked back and forth between the three Rangers with her. Who'd been with her for what felt like so long, and through so much. Her gaze fell particularly on Gilan, whom had become especially close to her despite her constant lies and cruelty.

She wouldn't admit this for a long time, but he'd added a sort of spark to her life that'd been hollow since she left her Master all those hundreds of miles away.

Aaron was almost sure, despite her Master's assurance back at that very fateful moment, that they may never meet again. In fact, she'd felt it in her sinking heart when he sent her away, that they'd never meet. She'd told him this, but he'd only smiled and told her she was a fool. Then he'd ushered her away to fend for herself with his message. Alone, except for dear Rurin. That black stallion had kept her alive for so long, she owed her life to him.

" If you don't believe me, it's okay, but I'm sorry."~~~~~

Yep, I'm really nervous about this chapter. Send in your reviews, please. This chapter has me extremely worried right now. Read and Review.


	22. Tool

Another chapter coming. This is turning out longer then I intended for this story to be. ^^; Oops, oh well. Read on as you so please.~~~

" Sure," Will was the first to show that he excepted the apology, " but why'd you hide it to begin with? There was no real reason to hide it, was there?" Will was well accustomed to a girl being courageous and strong due to the actions of Evanlyn, er, Cassandra was her actual name, back in Celtica and again in Skandia when faced with possible death by Oberjarl Ragnak. Aaron laughed a true laugh this time, smiling at Will, grateful to him.

" There was plenty of reasons to hide it. Most girls need protection, guys always move to protect them, its just habit I guess," she considered this for a moment then went on, " but I don't need it. I don't want. If someone protects me I want them to genuinely protect me like one comrade does another." her voice had a sort of earnestness to it, that pleaded for them to understand what she was saying.

" Besides, I was on my own for a long time. A girl is considered an 'easy target'. A guy is considered just 'a target'." Will looked a bit befuddled as to this reasoning." Trust me, it makes sense." Still confused, Will opened his mouth to ask a question, then closed it, leaving it un-uttered. He let this go for the time being.

Aaron noted that Halt seemed far too okay with this situation as it had presented itself. She could understand how Will and Gilan had reacted, after all, it's not every day that who you thought was a boy was actually a girl. However, Halt just seemed overly accepting for this whole difference. Was he used to this sort of thing? That would be just weird, but it was possible. Then, Aaron figured it out.

" You bastard, you knew I was a girl since you met me, didn't you?" she exclaimed, suddenly. Halt had stopped the laugh that crept up his throat, but couldn't hold back the smug smile that tugged it's way across his face. At first, he said nothing to her. Aaron raised a quizzical brow at him until, finally, he yielded an answer, though not a very helpful one.

" I had an inkling." Halt replied simply. Aaron glared at the old Ranger, then muttered what Gilan guessed were curses under her breath in Gallican. A smile played across his face, and he kept his laugh quiet. Aaron had been right earlier. Nothing had really changed at all. Aaron still had more fowl language then Gilan dare ask about, no matter girl or boy. That would just have to be that was the only thing that crossed his mind while he walked out to get food ready while Halt looked over Aaron's wounds. ~~~~~~~~

They stayed in one place for the day. No matter how much they all wanted to move on, Aaron included, Aaron simply wasn't ready to go anywhere after a fall like that. When Aaron had told them how she had fallen out of a tree and that was how she sustained most of these injuries, Gilan was glad that he hadn't known how she'd gotten them when first seeing the wounds. Aaron had even pointed out a height that she thought that she had fallen from to them, and the sight had made Gilan shiver. Imagining Aaron falling down from so high, he was surprised that Aaron seemed so up beat about it. That she survived it seemed a miracle in and of itself.

" Sounds like you have a lucky star out there." Halt had commented. Aaron, after glancing at him for a moment after that, gave a tired smile at him, eyes growing sad.

" Or at least ones that wants me to stay alive, in spite of whatever I do." she said, almost mournfully. After that she'd glanced to the sky and murmured a quiet prayer that everyone saw, but nobody around her heard.

Either way, they weren't going anywhere for at least one more day so that Halt could attend to the wounds a bit better and check how bad they were. (Note: Halt knows the most about medical treatment, and is the senior Ranger there, so it's his job to tend to the injured.)

They took shifts to look after Aaron, but it wasn't long after that Gilan found out that Aaron was sleeping very soundly after her brief time awake. He'd smiled after hearing this, thinking that it was so like her.

" She may be skilled, but she can be such a lazy bum." he said, laughing as he thought of the few times that Aaron just wanted to lay around, especially after getting out of the river that time she'd saved his life. She simply didn't want to move for the longest time. Gilan had to remind her that if they were spotted on the river bed, this whole plan of jumping in the river would've been for nothing.

Aaron spent the majority of the day sleeping, except to eat drink,and make the occasional curse from her injuries or teasing comment when Gilan had mentioned that he'd made the food.

" Didn't you ever notice that his cooking totally sucks?" Aaron had directed the comment at Will off to her side. Gilan had only been present to deliver the food. " I can tell you all about it."

" Hey, if you think you can do a better job, you get your ass out of bed and do it." Gilan replied, placing a mocking hand on his hip as Aaron did from time to time. Only at this time did Gilan realize that this would've been something to be suspicious of when done by a boy.

" You can explain that to Halt when I walk out of here. Go on!" she directed, pointing out the door, smiling and laughing, sitting up to eat now. " Go and tell him that, Gilan."

" Yeah, yeah." Gilan laughed, voice becoming thick with sarcasm. They smiled at each other, as it was all part of the joke that still continued on, it seemed.

" Do it. You won't." Aaron replied, digging into the food with her good arm while Will help hold the bowl in place while she ate. They laughed again, and Gilan made his way out to have his meal with Halt. He gave one finally wave at the two before he went, hearing Aaron start to explain to the confused Will about this joke of theirs.

The two older Rangers sat eating quietly together, with a comfortable feel in the air. Not the sort of silence where someones not sure what to say next, but the kind of silence that simply meant they had nothing to say to one another at that time period.

Though that wasn't true, in Halt's case. He did have something he wanted to speak to Gilan with. It was more of just figuring out how best to start the conversation in question.

Halt played with the logs in the fire, thoughtfully for a few moments longer, thoughtfully, while the unsuspecting Gilan drank at his coffee cup greedily. To say he was content with this coffee in his hands would be an understatement. He was damn happy to have that coffee.

" What is Aaron to you, Gilan?" his old master asked him. Gilan nearly coughed up his coffee onto Halt from the abruptness of the question. He choked a second or two before he could even begin to answer Halt's sudden curiosity as it his relationship with Aaron.

" What?"he croaked, staring at his former master. Never had he heard Halt ask a more blunt, outright question as this one. Halt glared at him in a way Gilan knew meant "You know what I mean." However, Gilan really didn't understand Halt's question in the least. So, he kept on asking. " What do you mean, what is Aaron to me?" Halt shrugged.

" Is she your friend? A tool, or a lover? what do you see when you see her, Gilan?" he prompted, watching Gilan like a cat does a fish. Gilan shifted under his master's hard stare. He had never thought about this til now. What did Aaron mean to him? What did he see in her . . .? Not a tool, that was certain. A lover . . ?

" A lover?!" he exclaimed, flustered by this suggestion that Halt had made. " I'm not gay!"

" Of course not," Halt agreed, " that's impossible as Aaron is a girl." Gilan glared at Halt for a long time. Halt looked back, forever tricky despite his plain expression. He'd been teasing Gilan obviously, but Gilan couldn't deny that he'd walked into that one, so he let it go for now." But is she your lover?" he repeated, and Gilan knew it was to irritate him, so he ignored it. Halt was prompting for an answer still. Well, Gilan had to answer else he leave it to Halt's imagination for his own answer. That just wouldn't work.

" What does it matter?" Gilan finally found the perfect way to counter act Halt's question. "Why do you want to know?" Halt frowned and Gilan knew he'd saved himself for at least the time it was Halt's turn to take some time and think. Then, finally he saw no way around it.

" I believe Aaron had been using you,' Halt said, sighing a bit," like a tool."~~~~~~

BUM BUM BUM!! What do you think Halt means by that? Keep reading to find out. I appreciate reviews very much, so please, please, please, REVIEW THIS STORY!!! Thank you!!


	23. Questions

Another chapter to go. Wow, this is way long. Oh well. For all of you reading and liking it, please enjoy.~~

To say Gilan was surprised by this statement would've been an understatement. It fact, he was outraged that Halt would suggest such a thing. However, he kept himself calm for the time being. The Ranger's training had been drilled into him for years, and it was times like this it was good to use them.

" What gave you that idea?" Gilan asked in a soft voice of disbelief.

Halt frowned at Gilan, knowing this wouldn't be pleasant for his former apprentice to hear. Still, he felt he needed to tell Gilan, for Gilan's safety. Truth be told, Halt was worried about Gilan, and wished that his old apprentice not be hurt by Aaron, even if it was painful for for him to hear it now.

" You've given her clothes, weapons, directions, advice, used all your skills to help her along the way thus far. All she's every told you were lies since the beginning. Even her gender up until now." Halt emphasized the point as much as he could. " Never told you she was being followed, or where she's from, or where they're from," Halt made a wide gesture to mean the army that they had been fighting all this time," or her Master's name, or his message, hell, she even pretended not to be the girl her Master adopted."

Gilan hadn't considered this, but now that he thought about, the way she'd explained the situation with her master made her the poor child whose parents had been shot by White Stag.

" Not one work of truth has passed her lips." Halt said forcefully, as if saying it this way made it more likely that Gilan would agree with him

" And? What's your point?" Gilan felt a pit form in his stomach, and it dropped lower and lower as Halt kept talking on this topic.

" She's using you, Gilan." Halt tried to put it as nicely as he could.(Which in retrospect, isn't nicely at all)

" How do you know?" Gilan persisted to question Halt.

" She can't be trusted." Halt replied, watching Gilan carefully still. He found that his " gentle" approach wasn't working. So he opted for blunt( or at least more blunt then he was already being.) " Aaron is a bad person, Gilan. Can't you see that?" Once again, Gilan could only stare at his former master. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

" What could you possibly be thinking that would make you think that, Halt?" more questions passed Gilan's was just as confused about Gilan's reactions to all of this was Gilan was about what Halt was telling him. Frowning, Halt only showed his confusion now.

" Does someone who's not using you need to lie so much?" he answered Gilan's question with one of his own.

His master had a point, Gilan was well aware of that. In fact, he was even more aware of the truth of this statement then Halt realized. Still, something within him kept Gilan from believing Aaron was a bad person. Something just seemed off with that idea when he placed it in his head.

Maybe it was the way that Aaron looked at him. Gilan guessed maybe that was it. Aaron had this way of looking at someone sometimes that showed such a depth of person that it was almost as if she saw through the entire person she looked at with those blue eyes. Gilan had found her looking him in that way multiple times through all of this little adventure they were on. Once he caught her blue eyes with his own and knew what it felt like instantly. Like she looked at him, the flaws and the scars, every smile and laugh, the little quirks and annoyances, all at once. With those eyes understanding, almost comforting in a way.

Perhaps that was why he couldn't believe her a bad person.

Or it might be the way her voice got soft and her eyes grew sad when she thought of her Master. When those memories flooded over her eyes, putting her in a daze of sorts, and the smile she grew at the memory turned sorrowful with a slight turn of her brow or smallest changing curve of her lip. Laughing ruefully that way she did when a laugh need be let out, but she was hurting within herself.

No matter what it was, it denied Gilan the ability to think that Aaron was a bad person, despite her lies and with hold of information.

Still, the Ranger's training drilled into Gilan told him to look at this logically. Logically, Gilan knew, that Halt was absolutely correct. If the truth was so hard for her to tell, then she was just using them to her own ends. The things she did and said were only acts to get them to help her along her way, whatever that may be at this point. Obviously, she'd used Gilan to make it to Redmont Fief so she could find Halt, Crowley, and whoever this third person was supposed to be.

Pursing his lip, Gilan thought this over completely before saying or doing anything else. Halt waited, patient, but not eternally patient either. Finally, Gilan gave a nod of his head to Halt. A nod of understanding.

Halt was glad to see it, but sad that this hurt Gilan now. With a sigh, he patted Gilan's shoulder, and walked off. Gilan would need to find his own answers to such a betrayal, and Halt knew that all too well. He'd leave Gilan to do just that for the time being.~~~~

The next day they had no choice but to move on from their camp site. Now that the horsemen had lost the proof that Aaron was dead (so to speak) they would be after Gilan, Will, and Halt in no time. They'd been disorganized the day before, when Halt had decided to spend one more day at this camp site, but there was no more chance to delay now.

Aaron totally agreed, insisting that she would be fine to ride all day. Gilan was having some serious doubts about that. She was still very pale faced, like she were stricken with some sort of illness and not recovered. That alone made him weary of this move. There was also Aaron's arm that was strung up in the sling, and the wound on her stomach to consider during all of this. Those giant bruises wouldn't be helped by a ride all day.

Still, it was inevitable that they had to leave, or risk getting discovered. In this condition, they wouldn't be able to get Aaron moving fast enough to escape capture again.

" Are you sure your up for this, Aaron?" Will openly expressed all of their concerns really. Glancing over from next to the black stallion, Aaron stared a moment, then gave a weary, sad smile. That mournful smile she had.

" Does it matter?" she replied, on a rather dark note. " No matter if I'm ready or not, we'll go all the same." then she sighed, seeing Will's worried face, patting him on the back and laughing a little bit, grinning at him. " If I'm not ready, then I'll make myself ready for this."

With that, she carefully got onto Rurin, wincing from the use of her injured arm that she needed to lift herself onto the tall stallion.

" Let's ride." she said in a stern voice, trying to reassure the uneasiness of her companions.

On they rode through the day, at a lesser pace then they would've done before. Still it was enough that they felt they were getting significant amounts of miles behind them while still headed steadily for Castle Araluen.

Aaron seemed her old self again for most of the morning. Laughing as always, talking with Will and Gilan a great deal, with a casual side comment directed to Halt. Usually something to tease the old Ranger, commenting on his gray peppered hair, the jagged his hair was cut, or generally his old age in comparison to everyone else didn't take too kindly to this ( for obvious reason). All was well and good Then as the afternoon rolled in, the signs of Aaron struggling along became clear to them all.

None had noticed in the beginning of the day the slight wincing. Aaron had hidden it pretty well, as she was accustomed to try and hide her pain. It was a poor habit, she was aware of that, she'd been scolded by her Master for this many times before. Still, the way that people looked at her, worried faces and concerned glances at each other, made Aaron's blood boil red hot. Something about it just made her angry with herself and whomever gave her that look too many times over.

After some time had passed, however, the wound on her abdominal began to ache horribly, and the way the horse jostled her around made her arm sting every few steps. Aaron quickly found that she could ignore this for the most part.

However, one bad bump, and suddenly Aaron felt her like her stomach had just had flames thrown on it. This caused her to give a bigger wince then the others before, but she found that she was lucky and nobody noticed it. Carefully, she slipped her hand to feel the wound gingerly.

Blood.

The wound had reopened.

Dammit.

That was to be expected, she told herself. After all, it had only two days to heal, and unfortunately healing was a slow process. She pulled the cloak closer around herself, and proceeded without telling the Rangers.~~

Yep, all done. What next? Who can say? Well, I could tell you, but that wouldn't be very fun for any of us, especially me, so I'm not giving any hint. Anyways, please REVIEW ME!! I love to see reviews. They make me very happy. Send them in please.


	24. Gilan's Idea

Next chapter up. Has it been a long time since I last updated? Sometimes I can never tell. Oh, yeah, school's starting soon, so my updating might slow down a bit more because I'm trying to balance school, sports, and a job all at once. Yeah, I'm so far beyond DEAD this year . . .Anyways, next chapter!! ~~

At first, she thought she had gotten away with hiding her reopened injuries from the three was, until Halt glanced back at her, curiously, several times without saying anything. It was rather unnerving for Aaron and she shifted uncomfortably under his critical gaze.

Of coarse, being the stupid observant Rangers that they all were, Gilan noticed the way Halt kept looking back, and glanced back too. With both of them gazing back at her, Will started doing the same seeing the two of them looking back. Aaron, frowned at them, and kneed Rurin to come up in between Gilan and Will.  
Leaning slightly over the stallions neck, Aaron looked at all three faces with her with a stubborn look in her eyes.

" Yeah? What are you guys all staring at me for?" she asked, annoyed with there expressions. Aaron directed this mostly at Halt, whom had first looked back at her. However, Gilan had figured out what was going on by this time and so said.

" Maybe we should take a break." he suggested, thoughtfully. Aaron glanced at him.

" I'm alright." she insisted. Will and Halt exchanged doubting looks for a moment, but both looks were gone when Aaron next turned to gaze at them. This girl was so bull headed that even though they were all aware she needed a break, she wouldn't admit to it. Halt was about to tell her she was too full of pride for her own good, but Gilan spoke up again before he could get a word out.

" Well, I need one." he stated, flatly back at her. Halt and Will stared a little bit at him. " We've been riding like this all day, I'm already tired, and the horses could use a break from all of this. You don't want them to over work them all, do you?" Glancing at Will and Halt, he winked at them. Will got his idea now.

" Yeah, even Ranger horses need to take it easy on a trip like this." he put in, helpfully, getting a grin of silent thanks from Gilan. Halt didn't want to argue with them all over this, and played along with Gilan and Will.

Aaron glanced suspiciously between all three of the Rangers. She knew something was up, but in all honesty, there was nothing she could do about. With a sigh, she submitted to their break.

Finding a relatively safe spot to take a break, Will was put on watch for the time being while Aaron, Gilan, and Halt took care of the horses. Gilan went off to get water for the horses, as he was sure he could find a stream close by with good water. That left Halt alone with Aaron.

" Let me check your wounds while we're stopped." he said, loosening Abelard's girth.

He reached into his bag and felt for what bandages he still had. They were lucky that they had all brought so much in case of emergency. Aaron gave him an incredulous look for a few moments, then sighed, resigned that she'd been found out.

" That's what this stop is really about, isn't it?" she asked, slipping off her tunic.

To be sure, Aaron was a very well built young lady, and wasn't the least bit shy now that she'd been discover to be a woman. Her muscles rippled, and there were several former scars on her shoulders and back from battles past. She was unmistakably, a warrior. One that should never be taken lightly.

" Obviously." Halt replied, bluntly, and Aaron laughed a little at this.

" I figured as much," she said, shaking her head, "but it certainly was a smart idea that Gilan had." then, for some reason, though she smiled, she looked almost mournful after saying this.

Halt checked over the cut across her stomach, leaning down to inspect it more closely. Glancing up, he saw this look, then turned back to his work.

" Something on your mind?" he asked, and Aaron stared down at him. Once more, Halt glanced up at her, then back to tending the wound. Aaron smiled ruefully at him.

" Nothing gets past you, does it, Halt?" she asked. Halt only shrugged at her, not even bothering to look up this time. " Just wondering what will happen once I'm done delivering this message." she said, more to herself then to Halt.

" Not going to go rejoin your Master?" he prompted.

" You'd think I would, wouldn't you?" she commented, laughing a bit. " Truth be told I would if I could." there was a brief silence where Halt considered her words.

" You can't?"

" Well, it's not like he told me where he was headed before I left," Aaron replied, still talking as if to herself rather then to him, " and he'll have been long gone by the time I got back to where he and I were last together at. No, I fear that I'll never see that dear foolish Master of mine again."

This drew out the sorrowful feeling that had been filling her up for some time. She never liked to admit a weakness like this sappy feeling of loss that had been left unspoken for this whole trip.

Halt said nothing. How does one respond to a comment like this? The only person who had ever been a father figure to her was gone, and she didn't even know if he was alive or dead. At least if she knew for sure that he had died there would be some sort of closure for her, but this . . .It was rather sad, truthfully.

" Knowing him, though, it was probably part of his plan from the beginning." Still Aaron went on talking, laughing a little at the thought. " He would do something like that. It would be just like him. But," her lighter nature faded away again on this note as she asked herself, " what will I do once my final service to my Master is done?" There was another silence that stretched between the two of them while Halt wrapped the injury again.

That was, until Gilan returned while Halt was still finishing this task. " Got the water-" he stopped abruptly as he caught sight of Aaron and Halt at this time. His face turned red quickly, and Halt almost laughed out loud at his former student.

Aaron's face turned colors, but less then Gilan's did.

" Yeah, well go give it to the horses you pervert." she said, grinning deviously and speaking as though this was something that happened very often to her. Halt had to hold back his laughs for a few moments.

Aaron snorted Halt now. " Don't you start saying anything either. You're worse then he," she pointed at Gilan," is. Your an old pervert checking out a young chick. You're more like a pedophile." Halt couldn't help thinking this was an abrupt change of topics from the conversation he'd just had with the girl.

" That makes you a cross dresser, Aaron." he answered back. Aaron puffed up, clearly not like this choice of terms.

" Hell no, that makes me a tom boy."

" No, you wanted up to believe you were a boy. That makes you a cross dresser."

" You'll regret saying that, old man."

" I doubt that, Aaron."

" The only one who's innocent here is Will." Gilan suddenly commented, almost out of the blue. There was a short silence, then all three burst into laughter.

Finished fixing Aaron's bandages, Halt handed Aaron's tunic back to her. She was still laughing and only nodded to him thankfully while she slipped it on over her head and smoothing the cloth. Then Halt wrapped the sling back around her neck and she set her arm carefully back into place.

" It would figure that Will is the only innocent one here, wouldn't it?" Aaron commented.

" Huh?" Will's voice sounded from the place where he was standing watch. Then all but Will laughed even more then the first time.

Aaron couldn't help thinking, while laughing with these Rangers, that it didn't matter what happened to her later. This was the moment she was living right now. The laughs and smiles, that was something to remember. And that was a gift in and of itself, or, at least, that's what Aaron thought.~~~~

Purpose of this chapter: Cute stuff!! That's about all that happened this chapter, now that I'm reading it again. Weird, right? Aw, well! I'm just a sucker for that sort of thing!! XD Anyways, I agree with Aaron at the end of this chapter here. How about you?


	25. Confrontation

Whoa. It's been awhile!! I'm so sorry! OMG, it's been so long!! AHH!! School started and suddenly I had to deal with an overflow of school work and then trying to keep up with a sport and a job and well, FML. Anyways, here's the next chapter. I'll try to be faster next time!! ~~~~

" How much farther until we get to Castle Araluen, Halt?" Aaron groaned for about the 20th time that day. Halt's tolerance level was reaching it's height, and this was about to break him. He always knew that women could be a pain, but this . . .this was full on torture.

" I keep telling you, it's still a few days away! How many times must I tell you?!" Halt kept himself from shouting and instead, snapped at the girl.

A few more days had gone by, and the pace was pretty good considering the extent of Aaron's wounds. The girl looked right perky right now. Halt wanted to smack that look right off her face. The only signs of her injuries at this point was the occasional squint of pain and the sling her arm still hung in for the time being. Other then that, she seemed chipper and eager as ever.

On the note of the sling in question, Aaron had actually begun to take the arm out of the sling to test it from time to time, but Halt kept telling her not to move it if she wanted it to recover quickly. All she did was laugh, and keep disobeying Halt over and over again, which frustrated the old Ranger. Stupid kid . . .in his day, you listened to your elders. This was a sad time indeed . . .

" Be patient, Aaron, we'll get there soon enough, just take it easy until you recover from those wounds and bruises." Gilan said with a laugh at her enthusiasm with getting to her destination to find Crowley.

For some reason she seemed much more happy, as if some weight had been taken from her shoulders since the time they took that break and talked about perverts and cross dressers. Not sure exactly why, but glad to see her in such high spirits, Gilan smiles, feeling the sun warm his face in the early morning lights.

" Yeah, it's a really beautiful place there." Will told her, and Aaron showed a clear interest, no, fasination with the subject of Castle Araluen.

" You keep telling me about it and how your friend is there now. It's you who's got me so excited to see this place." Aaron replied, smiling at him. Will grinned. Aaron was a very curious person once she actually opened up to others. She was excitable and devious at times too, and despite her steely tongue, she meant well and was a big joker at heart. Kind of like Gilan in a way, when Will thought about it.

" You haven't finished telling me about this huge adventure you went on,"Aaron went on, leaning slightly forwards to prompt Will into talking about the subject," what happened after you guys all found Evanlyn?" Of coarse, Will realized that this was a rather sore spot for Gilan. It didn't take a magician to figure out that the blame he felt was still there. Anybody could tell him that it wasn't his fault, even Will had told him that, but there was just no convincing him in that matter. Gilan felt he'd made a mistake separating from them.

" Don't you think I'm tired of hearing your blubbering," Halt snapped at Aaron, soothing over the awkward feel in the air, " shut the hell up, Aaron." Aaron, pouting, sat back on the saddle and muttered a series of curses in Gallican again. Halt said something in Gallican in a normal tone to Aaron and she stared and was quiet for a long time after he said this. Not knowing what he said, Gilan had to wonder what exactly had been said to Aaron. However, it seemed clear that it wasn't something that should be said in such a plain voice. Gilan was glad that he didn't understand Gallican when he saw this transaction.

However, Gilan was more troubled then ever, though it didn't seem like it at first glance. Will was completely unaware of the fact, because Gilan was good at hiding things from the young apprentice.

It was Aaron that was the hard one to convince. Sure, she was in a good mood, but Aaron was very observant and had spent enough time with Gilan to know that something was out of place with him. Gilan was trying his hardest to keep her thinking it was because of her injuries rather then something else.

Halt, of coarse, knew that something was up, but he didn't mention it. Cause his words were what was weighing on Gilan's mind, and Halt was aware of that. Gilan just couldn't get those words out of his head. Why did Aaron lie to everyone so much? It wasn't that he'd never thought about it before either. After all, Gilan had helped Aaron at the start simply from the good of his heart, though he had the thought of Aaron being a stow away criminal at the start of all of this.

Being a Ranger didn't make Gilan cold hearted.

Either way, Aaron had lied to Gilan the first time he spoke to her. She still was, and Gilan knew that all too well. The girl was hiding something, and he was ready to get Aaron to tell the whole truth to him now. Tonight, he told himself all that day, even as he looked at Aaron now, we'll talk tonight.~~~

Even though she was injuried, Aaron still had to take watch like the Rangers with her. There was simply no avoiding it, and in all honesty, Aaron had actually wanted to start doing watch again. She wanted to be of use, and these injuries made that hard for her. Keeping watch was something to keep her busy and was something productive she could still do even with the wounds she had sustained.

So, the three Ranger's went to sleep, wrapped in their thick gray and green cloaks and rolled to the side.

Aaron took to glancing at them every once in awhile when she was on watch, and smiled every time she did. Gilan looked damn cute when he was sleeping, and she always got a good laugh when one of them, she thought it was Halt but she wasn't sure, might mutter a word or a sound in their sleep.

Now, she focused on her current job, watching the ground with a practice eye. Never turning her head she looked side to side with her eyes, far and wide, near and narrow, not allowing her eyes to linger too long on one spot for to long and taking the occasion glance behind herself. However, she'd taken to letting her ears and the horses to inform her if something or someone was coming from behind. All was silent for the time being.

Musing for a moment, she thought that this was a peaceful night. One of those nights that you could look out at the sky for the entire night and never be tired of looking at how star filled it was.

" Want me to take first watch?" Gilan asked Aaron, as always. Aaron had been waiting for this offer for awhile now, as Gilan had taken to asking it after Will and Halt had drifted into sleep. As usual, Aaron shook her head at him. She didn't look over at him, focusing on keeping watch.

" Aren't you tired? Halt and Will are already asleep. You must be tired too." she commented, her eyes flicking at Gilan to note the way he seemed to slump while he stood next to Aaron. Then her gaze turned away to observing the ground again. Gilan chuckled wearily, sitting down.

" I've been worse." he said, his hands settled in his lap. Looking down, Gilan twitched his fingers, rubbing his hands together nervously. Aaron's lips formed a smile and she half-laughed, half-exhaled.

" You're a Ranger. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." Aaron replied, not looking over again. She smiled a little more and kept to work at her task. Gilan felt a smile pass his face, but once he realized it, the smile faded. Again, his face turned back to his lap, and he thought it over again. No, he had to do it. The resolve had set in too far now. Too late to turn back.

" You alright, Gilan?" Aaron had noticed that Gilan seemed a little strange right now. Well, he was the closest to her, maybe he was worried about her condition. Still, it concerned her that he was acting like this. Gilan tilted his head to the side, surprised by the suddenness of her question. " You just seem a little off right now. Really, I'm find, you need your rest too." Smiling, Gilan shook his head, until the smile faded away once more.

" I need to ask you something. I'll go after that." Gilan assured her. He had her full attention now. She even leaned in closer, urging him to go on with the glint of her bright blue eyes in the moonlight. Right then, Gilan lost his will for an instant. He looked at her, and the words froze in his throat, un-uttered. After swallowing, he regained his vocal cord use.

" This whole time," he moistened his lips,"you've been using me, haven't you?" he firmed his voice for the question. Aaron stared, and the words seemed to echo for how silent it felt at the time. It was almost too quiet to be natural.

Gilan half wished he'd choked on the words, rather then said them aloud.

" W-What do you mean, Gilan?" she tried to pass it off and dodge the question. However, Gilan wasn't going to stop now that he'd finally asked her. In fact, he got mad that Aaron was avoiding his question, and he let it out.

" You know what I mean. All you've done is lie to me from the beginning! What am I supposed to think?" he said sharply. Aaron flinched away, looking out and scratching her head.

" That I'm trying to protect you?"

" Well, it's worked wonders so far." Gilan's voice was thick with sarcasm. Now Aaron began to get mad too.

" What the hell's with this suddenly?!" Aaron stood up, and Gilan did the same.

" It's true! I've been wondering about this a long time!" Gilan exclaimed back, fists clenching and unclenching over and over again.

" SHUSH! You want to wake Halt and Will?!" Aaron hissed, switching topics again. Gilan wouldn't have it now. He'd had enough of the deception and the lies. Enough of the way she'd hide from him. Gilan was tired of it.

" It's true then, isn't it? You have been using me." Gilan spoke in a low voice this time.

" What?" to this question, Gilan only shook his head at her.

" You're avoiding the question, Aaron," he shoulders slumped, as he was sure of it. Aaron had played him, " and the only reason to avoid the question would be because you did just use me." Aaron's eyes stretched wide, huge and frantic as she looked at him. That pleading look was too much for Gilan at this time, and he turned away from her, a bit hurt.

Truth be told, he'd known this was basically fact. Now that it had been uttered, however, it felt like getting stabbed in the heart.  
" NO! No, no, no, no, no!" Aaron spoke soft denial, begging almost to Gilan with her voice. "Please! Just let me explain! You've got the wrong idea-!" Gilan pulled away from Aaron, his eyes the coldest and most sad Aaron had ever seen before.

" Do I, Aaron?" the words were like ice. Aaron felt the phrase chill her bones and freeze her heart. " I don't think I have the wrong idea. You know that, don't you?" Gilan shook his head, rueful of himself. For letting her use him. For his childishness and for his own kind hearted nature.~~~

Omg, what is this? Lots and lots of drama in this chapter. Great, I go away for a long time then give you a bunch of drama. lolz. Enjoy. REVIEW! Then go tell your friends about this story so they might enjoy it's contents as well!!


	26. Explain Yourself

Well, this was a bit faster then the last chapter, but still pretty slow. I'm sorry!! . I'm so slow!! Personally I blame school work. I appreciate those of you that have faved/reviewed my story, cause I don't think I'd ever have gotten this far without encouragement along the way!! THANK YOU!! Anyways, on with the story!! ~~~~~~

" Explain it to me." he sat down, crossing his leg over his knee. Aaron stared, miserably at him.

" Everything?" she asked, her eyes sad and mournful.

" Everything." Gilan confirmed, nodding his head once, firmly." For once in your life, be totally honest." These were some rather harsh words, and Aaron's expression twisted with an unseen agony. She slumped down to sit across from him, not daring to meet his eyes.

Playing her fingers in circles in the dirt, Aaron thought over how best to start out the conversation.

" You could say I'm a pathological liar," Aaron finally admitted after a period of silence had passed between the two of them, " really, anytime I get scared or nervous, I lie. It's my comfort." Gilan titled his head to the side.

" How's that?" he asked. Aaron's gaze flicked up at him only a moment, then away again.

" When somebody gets too close to me in a lie, I can break things off easier." she murmured. Gilan was still confused, and Aaron got frustrated with his inability to understand. " Don't you get it?!" she snapped at him. " I don't like people getting close to me." That's when Gilan did something unexpected. He started chuckling, no, he was laughing!

" I'm sorry," he apologized, giggling," it's not something funny. Why don't you like people geting close to you?" he became inquisitive. Aaron didn't find it funny. She was very serious about this.

" Because people get hurt. I get hurt." she said, still quietly. Now Gilan was as serious as Aaron was from the start. " I know better; I'm smarter then that." she shook her head, talking almost to herself as she whispered. " People who get close to me end up dead too." This instantly caught Gilan's attention. He became engrossed in what she was saying.

" It started with my parents. The story I told was true, and about me. My Master shot them both by mistake, I over heard him tell that story one night to an old friend. I did the math." she hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing. " Then came another." This was said in an ominous way, and sent a chill up Gilan's spine.

" When I was 5, at the river side town I told you about, that I lived in, another girl became my friend." she swallowed, her throat beging dry and constricting a bit. The memory was hard to wrestle down. " A few days later, she nearly drowned to death. I saved her."

" That's good, you saved her." Gilan insisted, but Aaron didn't get any happier or more pleasant.

" The following day, her entire family, along with her, was killed by raiders." she informed him. Gilan's pleasantness was quelled by this somber answer. " I went to visit just after the raiders had gone. At 5 year old it was," she paused, taking a moment to pull herself together, reaching into her brain for the right words," gruesome to say the least."

Gilan was quiet. There was really no way to respond to that. Not one that Gilan could think of, at length. It was obvious Aaron struggled to speak the truth. It pained her, Gilan could see that. He half wanted to stop her right then and there, but he couldn't now.

This was the truth he'd asked for.

" When I was 8, we'd hunkered down in a farm town for a time to recover and I made friends with this brother and sister in the house we stayed in. The parents had offered us a place to stay there for the few nights we'd be in town. They were so nice to me." her smile was worn and mournful.

" Three days after we came to the house, local thugs came looking for money. My Master was away at the time, and the parents ushered us away. Their mother told us to go find a place to hide." her lower lip quivered slightly, and she turned her face sky ward, the stars twinkling gray in the navy blue of the night. " Then they came upstairs and found us in a closet. First, the brother tried coming at them to protect his sister and me. They stabbed him." She inhaled deeply before going on. " Then they came at the girl and me. We were shaking," she rubbed her shoulders as if she felt it crawling up her skin right then and there, " as we clung to each other. Then she," her voice broke and she stopped again," she threw herself in front of me. They killed her. Then I was alone, and my Master came then and saved me." The silence after that went on for a long time, while Gilan waited for Aaron. She seemed almost calm about it all, but it took her time to start speaking once more.

" It happened again and again. Different ages, different place, different people, even by different means, it doesn't matter. Always, someone died. When I was born, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14 . . ." her voice trailed off at this last one but she continued after a moment.

" That was the time I decided I'd never get close to anyone." she finished up that part of the explanation. "So, I use everyone as tools and toys." she said this very simply.

" You're okay with that?" Gilan asked, incredulously of her. She frowned at him, disapproving of his incredulous tone.

" None of my 'tools' end up dead." she answered him. " So, yes, when I first met you, I saw you as a tool. I saw Halt and Will and everyone I've ever met since I was 14 as a way to get to what I want. I'm 19." she added. There was another silence, and Gilan digested these last bit of information. Aaron, meanwhile, thought how best to go on. This was a delicate situation and she needed to be careful.

" 'When I first met you'?" Gilan echoed before Aaron went on. His head turned to the side, a question on his face. Aaron's brows curled in distress and sorrow. As always, Gilan proved to be observant and even found the right question to ask to get the information he wanted. " Do you think differently now?" He'd caught her choice of words. Why wouldn't he?

" That's not what I meant-" Aaron stopped herself abruptly. Remembering she told Gilan she would be completely honest, she forced herself to be honest with herself as well as with Gilan. " -NO, never mind. That's what I meant to say." she spoke softly again. Gilan leaned closer, so he could hear her better.

" Everything, Aaron." he prompted her gently. She looked up and smiled wearily at him. Aaron gave a disheartened sigh as she nodded her head to him.

" I know, Gilan, I know." she replied, taking a breath. " I dunno when the change started. But the feeling changed after awhile. Maybe it was when we jumped into the river that it started, I dunno," she laughed a little, but there was guilt on her face," that's when I started feeling bad when I lied to you. But," tears had filled her eyes and she turned away from Gilan," if you're my friend, you'll-" she faltered, swallowing again. "-you'll-die . . ."

That was a rather morbid thought, that his life might be in the hands of Aaron's thoughts. Gilan couldn't get himself to believe it, but he wasn't going to tell Aaron that.

She had lived five years of her life thinking this was true, and coming up with this as her solution. The fact that she'd lied and hide away her feelings to try and keep others alive, even in a superstitious way, showed something about her person.

Aaron kept very quiet now, not turning to look at him while her hand came up to her face. She wiped the tears away as swiftly as she could with her hand. Gilan grabbed onto her suddenly, wrapping his big arms around her smaller form, grinning before he spoke.

" You sure you don't want me to take first watch?" he asked, laughing. Aaron, sniffing, grinned, then began to laugh along for a good long time. Long enough that the two of them clenched their sides because their sides hurt from laughing so much.

Aaron got back to keeping watch, glad to see that their wasn't anything out of the ordinary at a time like this. She smiled, almost relieved. Finally, she had gotten that out of her system. Since the time at the river, guilt had been welling up in her belly making her feel sick, or at least like a horrible person. That was something she didn't want to be.

For all the fowl words and teasing she made, she couldn't stand the thought of being an evil person. She felt a bit better, now that the lie had ended, but very, very uneasy. Each time she closed her eyes, she could just picture each victim of her friendship.

The six year old girl, killed with her family by raiders. The eleven and twelve year old brother and sister, killed by local thugs for money. The ten year old twin brothers who were arrested and publicly hung in the streets for the thefts they had done to protect her. The seventeen year old girl, sister figure to Aaron, who was killed by her knight husband for having the baby of his best friend. Finally, the sweetest nineteen year old priest whom was run over by a cart-man's horse and cart after offering Aaron what little salvation that may have been left to her.

Each one was so different, the only thing that connected any of them was Aaron. That fact was eerie to her, even to this very day. She could remember the face of each victim, the dank smell, the red blood, the twisted form of the bodies, and the way the glassy eyes followed her. As if those eyes said what each victim couldn't. That "it was supposed to be you, Aaron."

She'd sworn an oath to that young priest, who had some many good, honest words to say that we left unsaid by this accident.

" 'No other friend of mine will die in front of me.'" she murmured. " That's what I said back then, Gilan." Glancing over to where the Ranger lay against her shoulder, Aaron found he was already sleeping. Giggling, she watched the night as it passed her by a little at a time.~~~

" Priest, please don't be angry with me. Now that you're gone, I've given up on that salvation you told me all about. Your Lord will surely except you, but there's no way he'll let me in, with this curse of mine. Sorry if I disappointed you. I can make a promise to you though, right? No other friend of mine will die in front of me. That's my promise to you, sweet priest. I will protect what I hold dear by whatever means I can. And that is the truth."~~~~~~~~~~~

So, that's the chapter. I'll try my best to update faster. ( This sounds like a broken record, doesn't it?) Hope you enjoyed the story thus far. There's still plenty to come, so stick around. REVIEW PLEASE!! I do so love getting reviews!!


	27. Separation

This is me trying to update faster!! Yay!! This is also me ignoring my homework!! Yays . . .but don't follow my example. ^^ Anyways, on with the story.~~

They all moved on as quickly as they could manage. Aaron's condition made it difficult sometimes, especially with her arm as it was in a sling.

There were a quite a few days that left the four of them stranded in one town in particular. Thunderstorms so bad, not even the bravest of souls dare leave the inside of their homes or inns. It went on for days, while Aaron's wounds healed little by little. Two weeks went by without the rain stopping for anything, except for the occasional peeks of sunlight every now and then.

The four used these times to make a quick dash to the next town over, not wanting to stay in one place for too long, but not daring to stray too far for fear of getting caught in the series of storms in the woods and forced to camp out the storm in the mud and rain.

" That's how I ended up finding this kid," Gilan pointed at Aaron, " the girl was slopping around in the mud and drenched to the bone. Like a street rat without any claws."

" Hey, don't get mad cause I could kick your ass even back then." Aaron laughed, taking up a joke. Halt cocked an eyebrow at this comment.

" Now that I would've liked to see." he said.

" I could still kick his ass now if you want." Aaron added to Halt, raising both her brows at the old Ranger and winking at him, and laughing more.

" Yeah, right." Gilan's voice slurred with sarcasm. " I'd beat you easy, you little brat."

" I'll kick both your asses if you don't shut the fuck up." Will finally joined in. There was a few moments of shocked silence. Then, Aaron and Gilan laughed hysterically, leaning over the pommels of their saddles and leaning back to laugh into the muggy air. Halt heaved a deep sigh inwardly. He'd been afraid that Will would start picking up Aaron's language if they were around each other for any length of time. Now that suspicion had been profane true, and he wouldn't hear the end of this sort of conversation anymore. Meanwhile, Aaron patted Will on the back, still laughing.

" Congratulations! And true, I don't doubt!" she howled out, holding her stomach. " But I'm sure Halt will kick all of our asses before you get the chance to prove that last statement of yours right." Giggling devilishly she added, with a smirk. " Then, once he's down that, with his final move, he'll throw out his back. We all know how old people can be, after all-" Aaron cackled to the sky, ushering Rurin to a fast cantor as Halt came chasing after her, shouting all the while.

Will and Gilan shrugged to each other and got their horses moving faster to catch both Aaron (who had a huge lead) and Halt ( who was closing the gap as quickly as possible). Laughing, Aaron wheeled Rurin around, aching to the right. Will hurried to catch her, urging Tug along, not needing to arch like Gilan and Halt did to catch up with the tall black stallion. Gilan joined Halt and pursued the two younger people, grinning ear to ear.

" You seem better." Halt commented, and Gilan glanced over at him. Then he smiled his cheerful, disarming smile, and nodded to Halt.

" I've figured things out. It's all straight in my head now." he replied, not being specific about what it was in particular. Halt nodded to him as well.

" You'll have to excuse me for hitting this tomboy over the head." Halt said, darkly. Gilan laughed, thinking that Aaron had best hope Rurin was as good a horse as she claimed or she was going to have to deal with one hell of a headache.

That was when things went wrong. The horses gave warning signs, but they came a little too late to help their riders avoid the disaster that followed. Men rode out from the woods around the group of four. Before they could regroup, cavalry men blocked Gilan and Halt's path to the younger members of their group

" NO! Dammit!!" Gilan shouted, using his sword to deflect attacks that came him way.

" Gilan, it's no use!!" Halt hollered, getting Abelard to ease back. " Head for the trees!! We can lose them there!!" Both Ranger's wheeled their horses round and headed for the forest. They worked to lose the men as quickly as possible, and did, mainly because they weren't the targets that these men were looking for. Both Ranger's knew that the army back there had been after Aaron and the message she had.

Still, it took some time to shake the last of the cavalry men. Finally, the last few turned and galloped away, leaving Gilan and Halt alone to catch their breath for a moment.

" We have to go back for them." Gilan said, almost immediately. Halt was in no mood to disagree. Will was still back there too. He'd spent a lot of time searching for his student all the way through Gallica and into Skandia. Nobody was going to make that all for nothing. Halt had even gotten himself exiled for a year to get Will back. No way was anyone getting away with this.

However . . .

" They're on their own for now, Gilan," Halt replied, clearly not happy with this situation they now found themselves in," they will have pursued Aaron because she's the one with the message they want. Will will go with her, but" he frowned greatly," they must either out run or out smart these men or be captured." Gilan gave a weary sigh to this, scratching his head.

" I suppose they're in good shape then," he said, more to himself then to Halt, "Will has proved to be clever in times of need over and over again, and I know well that, despite her teasing and language, Aaron is very smart." Blinking out of his thought Gilan turned and grinned to Halt.

Suddenly, Halt clasped Gilan's shoulder with a firm grasp of his hand. Gilan looked, confused by Halt's actions.

" Don't smile if you don't actually want to." Halt said, shortly, squeezing Gilan's shoulder with his strong hand. " A forced smile doesn't suit you." Gilan stared after Halt as he patted Gilan once on the shoulder and walked off to climb back onto Abelard's saddle.

Shaking Halt's words out of his head, Gilan mounted Blaze and the two Ranger's hurried back the way they'd come. They could only pray that Aaron and Will would be alright for right now. There was nothing they could do for the two young people in the current situation. It was all up to them. ~~~~~~~~

" Dammit!!" Aaron hollered, whirling Rurin around again to avoid some more of the cavalry men. She twisted to see behind her, then out and around for some sort of escape root. There had to be some way out of these men, even as they were closing in on her. " WILL!!" she shouted, but the apprentice Ranger had already seen her and was heading to meet her.

" This way!!" she threw her hand to the left to indicate where she was headed.

" I've already been that way," Will said over the commotion around them, Aaron giving a gasp and staring at him," besides, I can already see that there are people hidden in the trees that way." Aaron eased Rurin back to pace with Tug with a tap of her feet.

" There's got to be some way out of here." Aaron insisted, looking around, even up, as if debating on the idea of taking to the trees again like she had awhile ago.

" Aaron, we're not going up into those trees," Will persisted, seeing the idea flash in her eyes as she looked up," your arm still hasn't healed altogether from your first time trying that out. NO." he said it more firmly to get the point across to her, as she seemed to be ignoring his warnings.

" You're not going to tell me that we're just going to LET ourselves get caught." Aaron proved stubborn as ever, catching Will's eyes with an intense gaze.

" We might have no choice in the matter, Aaron. Besides, we have a better chance of getting away unharmed if we act as prisoners for the time being-" Will began, but Aaron gave a huge shake of her head and groaned to interrupt his sentence.

" They'll hold ME captive, Will, because they want the message I have in MY head. I'm perfectly safe for the time being, except for some possible torture. What about you?" Aaron asked, urgently, a look of distress in her eyes.

Truth be told, Will knew what Aaron meant. These people had no reason to hold him captive. If caught, they couldn't very well let Will go. He'd most likely be killed.

" I'll manage." Will lied. Acting like he had some sort of way to save himself would get Aaron to play it safe, and not almost kill herself. She survived one fall. There was no guarantee that she would survive another like it. Aaron wheeled Rurin around, and by now it was too late to get away.

" Don't lie, Will. You're a horrible liar." Aaron told him. Will grinned. Well, he'd attempted. The horses had stopped moving now, and both Will and Aaron got down off of their horses. Tug seemed to protest the action, and Will had to pat the horse to reassure him. Aaron's stallion stood firmly, almost to say that it didn't quite care for his master.

" Glad to see you're so concern." Aaron commented by his ear. The horse tossed his head, then stuck out his head so that his neck appeared to rest on Aaron's shoulder. Aaron let out a laugh, stretching her arm around to stroke the horse's nose.

Around them the men all closed in, a cloud of black and hinted with spots of blue in every direction. Finally one man stepped forwards, and Aaron dreaded the sight of him the instant his bay horse stepped out of the lines that surrounded them. Now, the real test started.

" Tell me the message!!" shouted Urosia, astride his brown bay horse just with in the medium sized circle around Will and Aaron. Will didn't need to see the defiant look in Aaron's eyes to know what her reply would be.

" Up yours!! UROSIA!! ASSHOLE!!" she snarled loudly out at him. Will had to admit those weren't the exact words he would've used, but that didn't mean he thought she shouldn't have used them. By all means, he found her choice of words more appropriate for the way they both felt then his own words. ~~~~

So, there you are. Hope you all enjoyed it. Review please!! I do love to read reviews!! XD Thanks so much for all of the feed back that you've all given me so far! I appreciate it!! Next chapter we'll be following Will and Aaron around more, so I hope you're all ready for this. ^^


	28. Reunion

So, had that whole Thanksgiving Break to post something, but it didn't happen! How dumb is that?! Sometimes I really think I need more common sense. Ah! My birthday was over break so I just took it easy and chilled with the peps. Anyways, next chapter here for you. Enjoy!~~~

Urosia frowned, looking scornfully between the both of them, atop his horse. It sent chills through the air standing the hair on the back of Will's neck on end and his muscles tensed. Aaron proved the strength that had brought her through this journey as a man rather then a woman.

" Are you sure about that, Aaron? After all, my men and I have you and your friend surrounded." Urosia pointed out, rightly so. " I could kill you without lifting a finger."

That was pain stakingly obvious for the two young people at this time. Aaron, however,was smarter then that.

" You won't. You'll never get the message from my Master, and won't be able to get the message with me dead. You need me to get the message." she answered. placing a hand on her hip. Urosia tilted his head, mockingly at Aaron as his eyes fell on Will.

"Not you, but what about him?" he indicated Will with a nod of his head. Aaron glanced at Will whom looked back. " I can kill him, he's of no consequence to me. He'll just be one more dead boy in this world." Aaron's eyes moved out and around, beyond Uroisia's men to the trees. Seeking out someone, anyone, particularly Halt or Gilan. No one was there. They were on their own. Aaron's heart sank, slightly.

" You won't kill him," Aaron replied again, still as steadily as she had the first time," I know you well enough, Urosia, to know you're a humane person. A dead person is guilt in your eyes. I can see it, even from here."

To Urosia's dismay, Aaron had picked up on that. He never planned to kill Will or Aaron if he could prevent it. Urosia had found out long ago that each death by his command became another gray cloud within his eyes. Or wrinkle on his face, or shadow under his eyes, it didn't matter. It all showed on his face though he hid it from his personality. In front of his men, he would show none of this regret no matter what the cost.

However, Urosia grew a rather crooked smile. The gaze made Will and Aaron shiver, but Aaron repressed it to her spine.

" Maybe you're right," Urosia said, looking at the sky, as though wistfully thinking over what Aaron had said," then again, maybe you're not. You're correct about your master."

This had Aaron's full attention. She narrowed her eyes to glare at Urosia for this comment.

What was Urosia getting at?

" He's certainly a close mouthed kind of man. Won't say a word to us." Glaring still, Aaron noted the use of pronoun usage with present tense in Urosia's sentence. Then her eyes grew huge with understanding. She took a single step forwards.

" You mean-?" she began to say, but Urosia mad a gesture to a few of his men.

" Bring him forwards." Urosia said menacingly.

Aaron hoped. Wished with all her heart and soul, every fiber of her being that this wasn't whom she thought it was. For once in her life, she wanted to be more wrong then she every had been before in her life. All in vain, however.

Brought forwards was a man, lean and medium height. Taller then Halt, but a bit smaller then Gilan, was Will's best guess. His hair was cut sloppily and he had a short cropped beard that was also very sloppily cut. His hair had hints where several gray strands were visible, but not enough to be considered going gray quite yet. Otherwise, his beard and hair were a deep black. A pure black. The clothes he wore were extremely plain.

Black pants and brown shirt. A bit clashing, in an artists point of view, but nothing too exciting to see. His hands and feet were bond. He was slung over the back of a horse, led forwards by one of Urosia's men.

The man was an utter mess, Will could tell even from the distance between them and the man slung across the horse. Aaron's heart lurched in her chest. She almost moved, but then froze. A shout filled her vocal cords but was denied an exit. The man's head hung and didn't look up at first.

Then, slowly, his head came up and looked at Aaron and Will.

" Oi! Sunfonroy!!" Urosia spoke to the man, speaking loudly that Aaron might hear. Aaron involuntarily clenched her fists. Will noticed the action and touched Aaron's shoulder,shaking his head at her.

" The bastard," she whispered to Will, " in their language, Sunfonroy means 'Worst of Fools.'" she half spat half sobbed the words. Will gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile to her. Aaron steadied her breath as best she could. " Master . . ."

Will could only offer a shaky pat on the shoulder. They were all but captured at this point, there wasn't much they could do for themselves let alone her Master.

" Look up, Sunfonroy!! Do it now!!" snarled Urosia, tugging at the man's hair with a firm, violent jerk. This forced the dull eyes of the worn face up to see what Urosia wanted him to see. " Look who we found?" he smirked as recognition crossed the man's face when he saw Aaron. " A black stag-ling that ran off from his white coated Master." The worn face turned to Urosia.

" You might want to get your eyes checked." the husky voice finally spoke up. Urosia frowned at this. That wasn't the effect he'd been looking for in all of this.

" That's a rather odd statement to say of your student, Sunfonroy."he said, clearly unhappy with the answer given to him. The man looked at Aaron and Will, finally turning back to Urosia.

" What of my student? I don't see him." the crisp, cold reply hit the air like a slap in the face. Aaron drew on a carefully stoic face from now on. Will turned to Aaron, but found nothing there. Urosia became enraged, striking the man hard across the face. The man took the hit with an eerie, frightening calmness.

" Don't lie to me, Sunfonroy!!" Urosia commanded.

" What's to lie about? That isn't my student, simple as that." the man said again, and was dealt a crushing blow, then thrown off the horse. Tumbling a few feet, the man hit hard into a tree, unable to stop it with his bond hands. Hitting with a hard thump, the bonds on his feet were removed and he was yanked to his feet and set upright.

" Then maybe you need to get a better look at him!" Urosia hissed to the captive and the man was pulled forwards. Will and Aaron shifted closer together as Urosia approached with the man. Setting the man squarely in front of two young people, Urosia said to the man.

" Look at them, Sunfonroy. Look the boy in the eyes." Then, Urosia gripped the man by his short hair again, and was forced to glance up.

This close, the man's every detail was visible. If he were in his usual peak physical condition Will was certain the man would've been lean and strong looking. However, now he appeared gaunt and weak, swaying slightly from exhaustion was Will's best guess. He looked as though he'd been beaten brutally by the large bruises on his cheek and his black eye. More bruises on what of his hands and arms could be seen showed this to be true. There were cuts as both his visible body and his clothes. Dried blood stained his clothes and body too. The man's skin was covered in grim and filth, along with the intermingled blood that had dried from old and more recent wounds.

This man had been tortured, Will realized right away. Not just bodily either. The way he walked showed a lack of hope or enthusiasm that one who was alive had. His eyes were hollow, making him appear as a shadow of the man he had once been.

Then his eyes gave him away. From the deep hollow eyes of the shadow man, a flicker of hope twinkled for an instant. But just as fast as it appeared, the hopefulness faded to hopelessness again.

" This is your student, Sunfonroy. Look at him in the eyes and tell him that he isn't your student." Urosia told him, menacingly, cold enough it sent a chill through Aaron visibly this time. The man's eyes met Aaron's pleading blue eyes. For a moment, it seemed an understanding passed between the two of them, un-uttered.

" He? Him? No, sir, this is no black stag-ling," looking over at Urosia, he said, very plainly," this is a white dove." Urosia looked befuddled, looking between his beaten captive and the two young people that he'd just snared. The man gave a contemptuous laugh at Urosia, pointing at Aaron. " When did my apprentice become a girl, sir?"

Aaron flushed almost instantly. Urosia didn't take kindly to being laughed at, and punched Sunfonroy so hard that he fell back and lay still.

" Stop hurting him!!" Aaron snarled darkly at him, her tone dangerous though she appeared less threatening with the blush on her face. Urosia looked carefully from both Aaron and Sunfonroy, thinking this over. Aaron slipped off her shirt, crossing her arms under her breasts, shifting very uneasily at the critical gazes all around her.

" Yes, I'm a girl," she muttered, softly, then looked at Sunfonroy," how'd you know?"

Will, wisely, stayed quiet, though he was bursting with questions. Sunfonroy slowly sat up,  
showing a great deal of effort in just this small action, but smiled at Aaron, looking like a grungy old man.

" I have my way of knowing such things." he answered back vaguely to Aaron. Urosia seemed unable to grasp the fact that Aaron was, in fact, a girl.

" You must be the student! I've been following you since the day after I captured this sunfonroy!!The trail led right to you back in Kuronvi!!" Urosia exclaimed, feverishly, red with fury as Aaron began to form her new lie without the need to take much thought.

" Kuronvi is where my master family lives. I'm a messanger girl, though I always dress like a boy," she puffed up slightly, as if annoyed, " my family even thinks I'm a boy, I'm sure of it. I was delivering a message to one of the mistress' friends when you attacked me for the first time!!" She gestured towards Will, explaining. " That's why I've got him with me. I needed his help, running away from you all the time, asshole."

Urosia couldn't figure it out. This explanation made sense, and truth be told, Sunfonroy's apprentice was purely male, he would know if his own student was a girl. Something within Urosia caused him to doubt the words being said and the looks between the girl and the beaten man. Was this a trick? It felt like a trick, even smelled like one, but he'd been here the whole time. They couldn't have come up with some sort of plan without talking about it.

Or couldn't they?

For all Urosia knew, Aaron had made the whole story up, and Sunfonroy had lied to them to keep his student out of harms way. That certainly made sense too, and it was very possible to pull off without talking.

Dismayed, Urosia knew this was a convincing lie, if it was, indeed a lie. It was possibly true, and he knew many of the men would protest holding them prizioner if the two young people were both just victums of a misunderstanding. Many of them didn't have the stitegeic thought that the higher officers had when dealing with enemy forces. The men would follow his orders indefinatly. However, if the majority disagreed with him, the man standing guard would most likely let them go anyways because they figured these people were victims.

Unfortunately, Urosia had to decide of the spot to either hold these two captive or believe their story to be true. It was all too obvious what choice he had to pick, inevitably, and if it was the wrong one, it was going to cost him much more then he could afford of give up.

" Trust me, that's the truth," Will added now to Urosia, holding out his oakleaf pendent for Urosia to see," I'm a Ranger, if I tell you it's the truth then it's the truth."

He hoped he sounded more convincing then he felt he was. Urosia looked at Will, quizzically.

Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing that what Will said was a lie. He had only the emblem that Will held out to show him to go by, and Urosia had no idea what it meant to be a Ranger.

" Fine then, I believe you," to Aaron, Urosia added," sorry for the inconvenience." he paused, tugging Sunfonroy to his feet with a swift yank of his shirt. Urosia considered everything and this seemed the best route. Right now, in strange new territory, he couldn't afford to have his men going against him as they might if he held the young people captive.

Despite that his better judgement told him to keep them under close watch, and after all the effort to catch Aaron had finally come through with the positive result, the circumstances prevented him from keeping him, er, rather, her now.

" However," he said, firmly," if I find out somewhere that either of you two lied to me," his voice had hardened to reinforce the threat he was trying to make, " I'll personally find, catch, and kill the both of you by myself." Aaron put a hand to her heart.

" Now, do you ever thin a woman like me would lie to a man like you?" she asked, attempting beyond hope to sound as soft and disarming as she could. (Note: This was a poor attempt because she still appeared very menacing, and Urosia reconsidered his choice for a second or two seeing this look.)

Urosia grunted.

" I suppose not," he said, pulling Sunfonroy away as the man dragged his feet," get to your feet, Sunfonroy!!" Sunfonroy groaned once and trudged on slightly faster this time.

" Bite me! I've been thrown over that damn horse all this way. You can't expect my legs to be in order after all that!" Sunfonroy replied, getting another hard hit to his face, and tumbling to the ground.

" Always got to get your two cents in, don't you, Sunfonroy?!" Urosia snapped and continued to drag the wrecked man away as if he were less a man and more a dog.

"But girl," he hollered over his shoulder to Aaron," I've never known a girl to call me an asshole either.  
I believe you're crooked enough to lie to me."

All Aaron did in reply was give another attempt at a disarming smile ( which, again, failed.) It incidental, still looked rather sly and devious. With that said, Urosia and his men made their leave, with only the face of Sunfonroy looking back at Will and Aaron.~~~~

WWWHHEEEEE!!! There we go. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!! Send any feedback by means of a review, and trust me, I take any and all reviews!! Thanks for reading!!!


	29. Sneaking Around

Happy Holidays Everyone!! This is my present to all of you readers out there!! Thanks for reading this year!! XD I hope this story has been worth the time it took to read it. I've certainly enjoyed writing it on. Without further delay, read on!! ~~~~

Will glanced over at Aaron, looking somewhat unsure of himself. However, he didn't look nearly as uneasy as Aaron herself did.

" What do you think he'd do if he knew we both lied to him at the same time?" Will inquired after the silence had dragged on for long enough.

" Find and kill us in the most humiliating way possible," Aaron answered very bluntly to his question. Will gave a sigh. This did nothing to comfort him," but that's nothing compared to what I'm gonna do to him for humiliating my master. Tying him up like a sack, beating him up, calling him Sunfonroy . . ." her voice trailed there as her hands clenched into tightly rolled fists. She grit her teeth tightly, daring the sob to try and make its way out of her body.

" He'll pay for this. Silly, Urosia, you don't know the extent of my fowl words." her words entered the air with a wave of deep strength and resolve that Will had never heard before in his life. " Come on, Will. I've got a Master to save." ~~

" Wait, so that was your Master?" Will asked, riding Tug alongside Rurin with Aaron. " Why didn't he recognize you?" Aaron's face was hidden from Will at this angle, but he was able to hear what she said to him when she spoke even so.

" He did recognize me." Aaron replied, and Will gave an interested look at her. He'd watched the whole thing, and there had only been the slightest hint that the battered older man even realized that Aaron was a person at all. To look from the outside end, that's what it seemed like. Aaron, however, knew her master better then that.

" Really?" Will couldn't help but ask this.

" You idiot!" Aaron snapped at his question harshly. Will jumped from the sharpness in her voice. " Don't you get it?! If my Master hadn't pretended not to know me, we would've been captured for sure!" Will hadn't thought of that. " Urosia was right, but he needed my Master's reaction to confirm that I was his student. When he gave none and pointed out my gender it disoriented the bastard enough that we got away unscathed." She shook her head,  
her expression fell to her hands. " All I had to do was make a lie to fit the story."

Will nodded understanding as to what she was saying and was silent. For a moment things stayed like this.

" I think what you said back there really convinced him, though." Glancing up, Will saw Aaron grin at him, rubbing one of her reddened eyes. Will smiled back at her. Knowing that made him glad that he was able to help, even if only a little bit.~~

" It occurs to me," Aaron commented, slowly, " that Gilan and Halt are totally going to kill us for going off without them." Will glanced over at her, their horses moving at a walk, staying out of sight of the back of the army, but close enough they would be able to catch up with them in a good, hard cantor. Giving a sigh, Aaron added. " My Master won't be thanking us either, I suppose."

" I find that hard to believe." Will said, remembering the broken looking older man. Aaron only shrugged to him.

" That's just the way he is. He'll most likely start cursing and cussing in every language he can think of before he even thinks that he should thank us." Aaron replied, looking down at the ground at the tracks. For anybody who even had the slightest tracking ability, the trail was easy to spot even from astride a horse.

" Well, he'll at least think of thanking us eventually." Will grinned at Aaron as he said this, shrugging his shoulders to dismiss the fact that it might take awhile to get the thanks they would deserve.

" That's the idea." Aaron said, glad to hear the optimism Will was putting into this rather bad situation. " You don't have to help me if you don't want to, Will, I mean," she hesitated a moment, " it's not like you have any real reason to put yourself in danger like this. After all, you've never met my Master. I couldn't ask you to help out like this-"

" It's fine," Will interrupted, waving away the worry she was showing him," I would do the same if it was Halt, so I understand. Besides, you would help me if it was the other way around, right?" he asked. Aaron stared a moment. That was quite a vote of faith Will would've given her, if it actually was Halt and not her Master. She hesitated again, conflicted. Then, she set herself straight, remembering her conversation with Gilan not that long ago.

" Yeah," she said, hiding her worried face in the coil of the cloak Gilan had given her all that time ago, back in his actual fief rather then here," you're right. I would help."Will smiled disarmingly at her, then slowed Tug to a stop. Confused, Aaron did the same, waiting to hear what had made Will stop like this. " What is it?" Will glanced over at her.

" They stopped." he replied, dismounting Tug in a practice, smooth movement.

" Really?" Aaron asked, sliding down to the ground after Will now. Will gave a firm nod of his head, very sure of himself. Focusing now, Aaron could see why he was sure of this fact. There was the faint sounds of a large group of people near by and there was a light glow of a fire being started. Aaron glanced over at Will. " Setting up camp, already?" she inquired to him. He shrugged.

" They've got a lot of people and horses to attend to. Besides, its getting pretty late." Will turned his gaze upwards to check the position of the sun. Aaron did the same.

Truth be told, she hadn't noticed that the sun had gotten as low as it did in the sky now. Taking note, she did agree with Will, it was getting late. The sun would be setting soon enough, and having an encampment of men out in the dark trying to set up a camp would be no easy task. Now was the most reasonable time to make a camp with so many people and horses to care for.

" We'll have to be careful to keep from being spotted by any scouting teams looking for fire wood or something like that." Aaron murmured to Will and he nodded agreement to her. Actually, he even glanced over his shoulder, uneasily, looking all around in a nervous sort of way.

" Could we have been followed?" Will asked, suddenly. That had been something to consider. Urosia may have let them all go, but that didn't mean he wouldn't still have people following after them. Aaron gave a vague nod to the fact that this may have been done.

" Maybe, but I don't think so." she told him, the explained. " I mean, we're only two people, how much damage could we possibly inflict in an ambush." Will's brows rose up in a way that reminded Aaron a lot of the way Halt made an inquiry with his eyes rather then his voice, as he so often did.

" They have been following after you all this way, you know. You've certainly proved to them by now that one person can be very dangerous even by his or herself." Will informed her. This was another comment that made Aaron stop and stare at him. That, despite that it was true about the situation, seemed almost too romantic sounding to be realistic. Seriously, one person can make a huge difference? How cliche did that sound when spoken aloud? It took Aaron a moment to recover from this statement.

" Yes, but they most likely believe that all my braver was all from desperation of being chased by an army." Aaron said, slipping forwards on hands and knees, then hiding into the shadows, trying to get closer to get a better look at this campsite being made. " The majority probably think that I'm just some innocent victim at this point, thanks to that lie I told." With that she became sad again, remembering that had all been thanks to her Master again. Will came up and joined her, patting her shoulder and smiling at her.

" We'll get him back," he insisted, firmly to her," no matter what." Aaron blinked at him a moment, then gave a smile behind the hood of Gilan's cloak.

" Yeah." she answered, nodding once to him. " Thank you."

Getting on the ground once more, she slid along to a different tree nearby to hide, glancing around the side of it. Trying to get a good view of the layout of the campsite itself. She focused the most on finding her captive Master, however. Finally she found him.

" He's along the other side." she hissed over at Will, and he nodded, confirming that he'd heard hear and knew where to look.

" We'll need to find a way around the guards." Will whispered in reply to her.

" Let's take this one step at a time from the beginning, Will." Aaron said, and got down on the ground for the third time to sneak away so that she and Will could talk more freely.

They talked all the while until the sun sank away from the sky, disappearing over the horizon and out of sight. All the while they did their best to keep watch for any of the soldiers sent out to find supplies.

" Go on." Aaron hushed to Rurin, stroking his nose affectionately. Rurin tossed his head, meaning he understood what she was telling him, and with one final pat from Aaron he walked off as if without a care, Tug following along after because Will had instructed him to do so.

That didn't mean he liked this though, Tug preferred to be close to Will so that he could help in case of any danger. Only because Will had told him, he followed this bumbling stallion away, and out of sight of the two people.

" Hope this works." Will said to Aaron, who giggled at him.

" Got any advice on how to sneak up on people?" she asked him with a grin, tilting her head at him, clearly interested in what he would tell her about this.

" Seriously? You don't know?" Will was surprised to hear this question come from Aaron of all people. She frowned, disappointed with him. Holding out her arms in a gesture of frustration, she said to him.

" Do I look like a Ranger to you?" Will became bashful, scratching the back of his head with embarrassment. Oops, he hadn't meant to make Aaron mad or anything.

" You seem it a lot of times though." Will said in reply. Sighing, Aaron shrugged to him.

" My Master was a Ranger at one time. He always taught me what I would be useful in certain areas while we were traveled. That didn't include stalking people in the woods like this," she then spoke thoughtfully as she added, " I could tell you how to sneak up on people in the desert or the plains. I can also teach you to give convincing lies, though you probably guessed I could do that from before. Anyways, any advice?" she persisted. Will took a minute to think about what Halt had taught him about this.

" Well, Halt always tells me-"~~~~

Well, that's the chapter. What next? Only I know!! LOLZ!! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and your holidays! Reviewing me would be a wonderful gift for me!! Thank you very much!!


	30. Escape! Get Out Alive!

A new year and a new chapter!! Enjoy!! XD ~~~~

The night was lazy as the four men stood watch over the beaten older man. Orin gave a huge yawn, watching as the rest of the cavalry were relaxing and enjoying themselves.

Lucky bastards.

They could be merry and get drunk as they pleased tonight.

Not him.

He was with the Special Forces. Trained to be a killing master with his spear alone. So he had to stand guard over the old man.

Karma was a cruel, cruel thing to him.

" This job sucks." voiced the sword master.

" Don't complain, Kurion. The last thing I need to hear right now is your annoying voice." replied an older looking ax master, his tone tart and unfriendly. The young sword master puffed up, glaring at the ax master angrily from his position on guard. Orin sighed.

"Old man, you need to learn how to make small talk. This isn't the time of the old wars where talk meant death." he waved a finger at his older companion, shifting in his place to get more comfortable.

" Good old days, the time during the old wars." responded the ax master, wistfully." That was when punks like you were never allowed into the Special Forces."

" Are you trying to start something, old man?"

" Would you both stow it already?!" snapped the lance master, finally irritated with the argument enough to speak up. " Kurion, this does suck, but don't take it out on us. We don't care. Zor could kick your ass easily any day so give it a rest. Zor, I advice you take your own advice. People hear you talking like that and you'll get stripped of your position. It's a rule never to speak of the happenings of the old wars with new military members. We follow orders, we're not here to get an opinion on it."

Zor frowned and said nothing in reply and Kurion was silent as well. Suddenly, old Sunfonroy broke the silence, chuckling at the four after Orin sighed for a second time.

" You have something to say, Sufonroy?" Orin asked, sternly, eager to get the other three focused on something other then each other. He felt this bickering happened too often among men who were supposed to be comrades.

Sunfonroy laughed and laughed at them in a low tone so that the whole camp didn't hear him. His laugh was bitter cold, like the winter wind bringing the hair on the back of these fighting men's necks up to stand on end.

" Yeah, I've got something to say." his voice was abnormally rueful and bitter. More then usual for him. " How the hell did I ever let myself get caught by you stupid ass people?"

Zor abruptly kicked Sufonroy once hard in the gut. Being the most experienced soldier among them, he was the only one allowed to inflict any harm on Sufonroy unless Sufonroy physically attacked them all.

" Fools should keep their mouths shut." Zor stated, while Sufonroy curled over his gut, gagging painfully. He might have thrown up if he'd had anything in his stomach at the time. Then it was silent for awhile.

The night was calm enough, despite some rough goings of the drunk cavalry men. A sweet breeze of a coming rainstorm blew with an intermingled smell of alcohol from the camp.

For these men, stuck at work as they were, this was a mild comfort for them. That coupled with the knowledge that many of their fellows would be feeling the pain later in the form of a hangover the following morning kept their bitterness at the situation to a decent minimum.

Birds chirped and hooted, while the night creatures scurried about the clearing. Some afraid to be eaten by owls and others not caring enough to take the caution that the others took. These ones simply went about finding their food as if nothing about these humans was abnormal.

It was pleasant, pretty, and most of all, peaceful.

" Gotta piss." Sufonroy said, obnoxiously, disturbing the peace with his loud then half of the rest of the camp glanced his way. They all moaned and groaned, waving them away.

" Take him outta here!!" shouted somebody, getting quick agreement from most everybody else around.

So, Zor untied the notes of the chains around the tree trunk to prevent Sufonroy from moving freely. Holding up the chains that were linked to wrist cuffs, Zor gripped the chains tightly and led Sufonroy along. Kurion scoffed at Zor and the lance master who moved to follow the ax master.

" I'm not gonna stand around to watch an old man piss." he scowled, shaking his head at the two." You take him, I'm staying here." The two glanced at Orin, too frustrated with Kurion's attitude to try and convince him to come along. Orin shook his head in reply to them, knowing they were inquiring as to if he would come along as well. How much trouble could an beaten up old man cause going to empty his bladder? Both ax and lance masters shrugged at the two then led Sufonroy away into the trees and out of sight.

Time passed. Well, when you got to go . . . But soon, it was too long. Orin and Kurion glanced at each other and Kurion's shrug was the only thing that could ease Orin's nerves. Soon it wasn't enough after more time went past. Finally, it was too much for Orin, and he went to see what was taking so long. It didn't take long to figure out.

Zor and the lance master were dead, only one arrow sticking out of them, both in the neck of each man. They both bled profusely, laying in the pools of blood. Not more then a few yards away, Sufonroy's chains were discarded, laying alone on the ground. Still further away, Sufonroy himself was being ushered away into freedom by two young people. It doesn't take much to put two and two together.

" Intruders!! The prizioner is escaping!!" he yelled out loudly, so as to get the attention of the cavalry men only just out of sight from these trees. Faces turned around to look at him.~~~

"SHIT!! We're busted!!" Aaron cussed out to Will, helping her Master along and letting out a long, loud whistle that caused Sufonroy and Will to cringe and hold their ears. "WILL!! Let's move it!!" Will was shooting on comers at the time, and let loose a few more arrows before turning to kneel down on the ground.

" The hell if I let anybody carry me-!" he was protesting, but Aaron shoved him onto Will's back. The young Ranger held tight and lifted the man into the air with a huge amount of effort.

" The hell if we have a choice in the matter, Master!!" Aaron snapped back, cursing still more and trying to help Will along as much as she could with her one free arm. They would be able to last long in a chase like this and Aaron needed to do something to help.

Her eyes searched around, frantically, trying to peace together something that could work, or to catch sight of her stallion that she knew was on the way with Tug too. They had to last til then.

" WILL!! Give him to me!!" Aaron insisted, stopping Will a moment. She knelled down, Will staring at her in disbelief. The sling had been discarded, and her bandaged arm hung out to lift her Master onto her back.

" Your arm-!" he began to argue.

" There's no time for that!!" she snarled, hold the ax master's weapon in her good arm and shaking it at Will. " You think I'm any good with this?! You need to use your bow to take these guys out from a distance!!" Will hesitated, but Aaron was impatient right now, as this was not the time to argue. " It's our only chance!! WILL!!"

Finally he yielded this, setting the old man down on the ground. Just then someone got close enough to attack them. Unprepared, the men had to go and find where they'd left their weapons first, before they were able to give chase of these people. The faster among them had caught up now.

" AH!!" Aaron screamed out from surprised, swinging the ax, clumsily, managing to unbalance the man. At that point she reached for a knife and stabbed him in the heart with this weapon instead.

Her arm protested hugely, pain leaping through it and rippling up her entire arm, despite it had only been the small knife being thrust into a man's heart.

Spinning, she swiped one man with the force of her spin with the ax, sending him falling backwards, bleeding from a stomach wound. Finally, she lost her grip on the weapon and it went flying into another man and he fell with the weight and force of the ax as well.

Firmly, Aaron crouched down again, and Will began to take out men with arrows now. Sufonroy looked at Aaron, his long time student, with a critical eye.

" Get on!" she commanded to him. Sufonroy folded his arms, frowning and cursing Aaron a moment or so.

" Who taught you to be so brazen to your Master, boy!" he snapped back at her. Aaron got to her feet, fuming mad. A hand on her hip, she jabbed her finger against his broad chest with such a fire in her eyes you'd think with one look she could set this man to flames.

" You did, you damn bastard!! And I'm a fucking girl, remember?!" she poked him furiously several times in the middle of his chest, almost pouting at him, as if to show disappointment rather then anger at him.

This time, she spun round and simple grabbed, him, yanking him up onto her back and settling him herself, her arm burning with pain. She managed the pain into a gasp, and trudged off with her Master, Will following after while taking men out with his arrows from the shadows of the trees and his Ranger's cloak.

All the while Aaron carried him, her Master cursed, cussed, and spited Aaron in every language and way he knew how.(Note: This is a lot, so this took awhile.) In fact, even when Rurin came running out of the trees, Tug close behind, the older man had yet to finish cursing his student to his fullest composite. By this time, Will was being overwhelmed.

" SHUT UP!!" she finally couldn't contain herself, snarling at her Master. Instantly,the old man's cussing ended, and he stared at her in surprise. " There's no time for this, Master!! Just get on Rurin and go!!!" she insisted, putting him on his feet again.

Quickly, she turned from him, being sure to lower her head to stop Will from seeing the pain filled tears that were in her eyes and the cringing of her expression. It was her arm again.

Will came running over, forced back by the men that were advancing towards them now. He started going past Aaron, but when Aaron didn't move to follow, he kicked up dust to stop himself. Then he came up next to her.

" Aaron?" he asked, taking her arm a moment. Instead of going along with him, she moved a step forwards. " Aaron, what are you doing?!" She pulled out a knife, putting it in her good arm and letting her right arm dangle next to her.

" You know this won't work, Will," Aaron said, almost too calmly. It sent a chill up Will's spine at just how cool headed she was right now," just go. I'll delay them." Horror crossed Will's face at what she was suggesting.

" I'm not leaving you here!" he replied, only getting the worst glare he'd ever seen in his life from this girl in front of him now.

More men attacked then, and Aaron took the initiative and struck first with only her short knife. Even with her left hand, she was able to brace back a sword strike, and twirl her grip after moving the attack to the side enough to send the man to the ground dead.

Turning on her heels, Aaron caught one man with a slice across the chest so that he fell to the dust with a heavy thump. When another man headed for Will, Aaron threw her knife, hitting the man in the thigh so that he crumbled to the ground screaming in pain.

" WILL, GO!!" She screamed at him, running up to him, panting for breath." The rest of the army will be here soon, all organized and ready to go!! We won't make it out if we all go!! Rurin will be too slow to escape carrying two people!!!" Jogging along, she got Will to follow her over to Tug, ushering for him to mount his horse.

" But-!" he protested, but Aaron wasn't paying attention. She was focused at looking over the rise behind them. Riding up the rise, Urosia led a small group of men ready to go after the intruders who had his former captive. Her panicked eyes hit Will hard.

" GO!! I'll keep them busy so you can get away!!" she told him in a louder voice then would have been nessicary under normal circumstances. When Will hesitated again, Aaron just couldn't take it anymore!! " You bastard!!! Don't make us all die for nothing!! GO!!"

Finally, Tug denied Will the privilege to hesitate anymore. He galloped away, towards Rurin.

" GO!! GO!!!" Aaron called after them both, as they had both halted at the top of another rise. The horses seemed to be the only ones willing to go along with Aaron's plan. Rurin let out one final whine of mourning before turning with Tug against the will of both of those that rode them.

What was strange was that Aaron smiled about this. Horses were creatures that could be the most intelligent minded animals in the world if taught. Tug and Rurin were smart creatures. They could tell what she was saying, and knew enough that it was best, even if Will and her Master couldn't understand it. She was thankful for Rurin.  
If her Master didn't set that beautiful black stallion free into the hills once she died, she'd have to haunt him for the rest of his stupid life.~~~~

Okay, that's the chapter. Getting down to the wire now, and things aren't looking so good for Aaron. What next? You'll find out later!! XD Read on! Read it again!! Then review!! I love any and all kinds of feedback!! Anything is helpful!! Thanks for reading!!


	31. Betrayal of Men

Well, this took a long time for me to update . . .T_________________T SSSOOORRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYY!!!!! I don't do it on purpose, I swear!! Here's the next chapter. It's not my most favorite one, but read it anyways! PLEASE!!~~

Urosia stopped his men at the top of this rise. He saw Aaron. His eyes caught sight of the retreating horses and the people that rode them. He knew what had happened and he realized what had been done to make it happen. The lies that were laid, and that he had been tricked, fooled even by her, though he would never admit this even to the day he would die. Riding out a few yards, he made sure he stood out among the men.

" You lied!!" Urosia shouted, not angry, but bluntly at her from a distance. Aaron let out a scornful laugh loud enough for him to hear.

" I do that more then you might think!!" she replied, still laughing. Urosia frowned, not liking her reply to his comment.

" You know you'll never get out of here on your own!" he exclaimed, blankly back at her. She let out another set of laughs at Urosia.

" We'll see about that, won't we, bastard!!" she answered him.

Truth be told, she wasn't sure how she was going to get out of this. With a set of cavalry around, obviously she wasn't going to try and out run them anytime soon. Although running and hiding had it's perks, one of them wasn't a prideful return to ones comrades. Not that had ever stopped her before, but there had always been a part of her that really hated the way she kept running away like this.

" What next?!" he called to her.

That was a good question to be totally honest. All this time, and now this happens? Alone with an army and their commander with her arm in a sling and covered with blood around the abdomen. It had soaked through the shirt at this point in time and even Urosia saw the blood even from the distance he was from her.

" You have no plan to surrender to us, but we can not allow you to escape!"

" An impasse, moron!" Aaron snapped, annoyed with his choice of words, as though to say he thought she was rather stupid in some way. " I get it already!" The irritation in her voice reached Urosia, and rather had him feeling irritable with her.

" No need to be snippy."

" Try saying that when you're in my position, jerk off." she answered with a voice loud enough to be heard by them all. Urosia looked confused at her, as she smirked slightly at him despite the situation she found herself in now.

" You seem to have already decided what you would like to do?" he asked her and she nodded, snickering mockingly at him from across the way.

" I have," she shouted out, " and you may not like my choice." Urosia's head turned a means of inquiring what she meant exactly by this. " You may think this foolish of me, but I'm sick of always running away, and sick of hiding like I've done some crime. I'll fight!" she exclaimed, slipping her hand out of the sling again, and this time tossing the sling away completely.

Kneeling down, she grabbed up one man's sword into her good arm, and dug her injured one into her pockets to get to the final knife she had left to her name. Urosia stared at her, and that was clear even from the distance between them both.

" You can't be serious!" he exclaimed, as, despite himself, he'd hoped on only capturing her. With a cavalry of a good number of men still left behind him, he didn't think she would consider making an attempt to escape, let alone attack them head on. She was even bleeding and had a broken arm!

" Say what you will, Urosia!!" she hollered, not backing down, even taking a pace forwards. " I won't run now! This is where it ends, dammit all!!" she persisted at him.

" You expect me to set my men, numbering forty or so armor covered soldiers, to fight a wounded, bleeding girl?" Urosia asked in reply to this. " That's absurd!!" Unfortunately, Urosia only got a cold hearted snicker from Aaron in reply.

" Not so many as that, now that I've killed some of your men along the way here!" she answered him, darkly. That got Urosia's blood boiling, don't be confused. However, he wouldn't have himself be unsettled by such a simple gesture from Aaron.

" You're a fool."

" If you won't send them on me, then I'll force it from you!!" she snarled out to him. " You know that!! Or would you rather come end this yourself?!" that suggestion had a great deal of appeal for Urosia right now.

However, it had a greater downside then he was willing to take at this point. It would be like admitting just how hard of a person she was to break, that it took a commander to take her out to keep his men alive. Urosia wouldn't dare shame his men and return home on that note of failure.

" It won't be me you'll be fighting!!" he made a gesture to a random soldier behind him right now.

A regular soldier, no one in particular. Despite that he cared for all of these men, Urosia couldn't say he could call all of them friends or even say he knew them all by name for that matter. He might have tried to do so if he'd had the time.

Anyways, the man brought his horse forwards.

" Sir?"

" Bring her here." Urosia said, simply. " Show her how small she is, and how foolish she is. Bring her here alive" That would be the greatest of insults to her right now. To find herself captured alive. The man straightened to salute to him.

" Aye, sir!" he said, then rode out a few paces ahead of his commander.

There was a moment of hesitation in his motions because he could see that she was already wounded. These were men accustomed to attacking fully armed men on horse back just as they were themselves mounted soldier. Attacking a wounded girl in regular attire like any farmer's or merchant's daughter or something like that was a rather cruel idea.

" She refuses to be taken without a fight." Urosia said to him, seeing the man's reluctance to attack her at all. " Avoid killing her. Simply subdue her." Understanding now the man nodded firmly, and set himself up for an attack.

" Come at me to kill!!" Aaron had an unusually commanding voice, as though she had been some sort of war leader for a part of her life. The sound of a command made the man about to face her stop a moment. " You'll not survive if you come at me half-assed!!"

" For all of my comrades that you've killed, I'd be stupid not to!!" he screamed in reply, clearly not betting to bring her back alive as Urosia had to him to.

" STOP!!" Urosia tried to command the man once more, but this time the sound of a demand like Urosia's fell on deaf ears. He no longer heard other voices around him. That was his mistake.

Coming at Aaron with a shout of fury his horse galloping hard forwards with his weapon out and ready to strike Aaron through. He did fail to consider that as a target on the ground, she might jump out of the way.

That was what she did, rolling up onto her feet, wheeling on her heels and catching the man with the sword in a fairly clumsy swing. The swing did little actual damage, but knocked the man off balance and from the seat of his tall horse.

Falling to the dust, he struggled to his feet with all of his armor on. This left Aaron, in her light clothing, enough time to run the man through with her sword so that he lay dead and motionless.

After that, Aaron turned a stone cold glare on Urosia who looked rather horrified by this failure to follow his orders and by the way she so quickly took to killing the man.

War was something Urosia knew well, and he knew the look of a warrior when he saw it.

What stood there was a fighter, not a boy or girl, a merchant or farmer's daughter.

All he saw was the adrenaline of battle flowing through her burning eyes.

" COME AT ME, UROSIA!! YOU GOD FORSAKEN BASTARD!!!" she snarled and yelled all at the same time, demanding Urosia.

The men around were unsettled by her shouts and demands. The insubordination of the man who had just met his death didn't bother them. Rather, they understood what he had meant when he said that enough of his comrades had fallen to her hand.

It was a shared feeling between them all, and the urge to go against Urosia's orders was becoming more tempting at his request to bring her back alive.

" YOU!" Urosia snapped at one man, sharply, getting the man to stiffen to attention when addressed. " Go and fight her!"

" Sir-!" but he wasn't given much chance to protest.

" Would you have us all come home with my need to intervene while capturing ONE person?!" he hissed harshly, getting the attention of all around.

Now they were beginning to see just how much of a stop they were all in at this point. This was supposed to have been an easy task. Catch Aaron. There were logical explanations for most of the casualties along the way, the winter weather, sickness, what have you.

There would be no excuse to cover up for the fact that a commanding officer had to step in to capture one teenager. It not only sounded bad and looked bad, simply it was bad.

Humiliating even, but there was nothing else to say about it. That was simply how it happened, and they had been misfortune for that fact they had struggled so much along the way.

Still, there would be no excuse for Urosia needing to be involved with Aaron's capture as it would be considered very poor back in their country.

So, the man stepped forwards to fight. And again, men were struck down. One after another after another. Some were simply knocked unconscious. Aaron was many things, but not cruel or solid as stone. Most she knocked out so that they wouldn't be attacking her.

Unfortunately, since Urosia and his men were at a distance, it rather looked like she was killing men in cold blood, which does nothing for the already disgusted image they all had of her at this point.

But with each passing fight, and each falling man, she weakened. Her injured arm was becoming numb, and she'd lost her hold on the sword for a few seconds in the last two fights she'd been in.

The blood on her stomach began to spread as her wounds began to close and reopen repeatedly for the time she spent fighting. The constant sensation of the stinging wound forced her to ignore the injury when she should normally have gotten it tended to right away.

In this battle, though she appeared powerful, she was inevitably losing to the numbers set against her. This survival game was hardly good for either side. With each man that went down it set more and more of Urosia's men to uneasiness and fear for some of the weaker hearted among the crowd.

Urosia was biting his lip thinking. If too many more got taken out by Aaron even the stronger hearted men would even be unnerved, which would make for hysteria. He had to prevent that or all of this had been for nothing. They'd all managed to get this far, how could they possibly turn back now? No, it was far past the time it would've been to turn back.

Now it was do or die trying. Going back having failed was not an option. In their country, coming back a failure was worthy of being killed, and as they were a cavalry, part of the military of their country, they would be hunted down and killed if they made a run for it.

That made them no better then common criminals.

Again, Aaron knocked another person to the ground, unconscious. She hit her knee this time, panting and using the sword to keep herself from falling to the ground altogether.

" AARON!!" Urosia called out. Panting, she glanced up from the where she was kneeling.

" What the hell is it now, you BASTARD?" she managed to shout at him despite what pain she was feeling at the time. He frowned, hearing how hard this was on her. This was a slow and painstaking way to go down.

" This must end, Aaron!" he hollered in reply to her.

" Then turn around right now and go!!"

" You know the laws of our country, Aaron!! You know we of all people can't do that!"

" Then start over!!!"

" These men have families, Aaron!!" Urosia exclaimed, disgusted that she was even suggesting that these men abandon their own families like that.

" If they will be hunted down like criminals, then it's probably better for their families if they never return!!" Aaron snapped in reply, now reminded as to why she was never a huge fan of the people in the military. Some of them just didn't have an imaginative enough mind to find their way out of a paper bag. Uh . . .

" WHAT?!" Urosia snapped.

" You heard me fine!!" Aaron panted for her breath, annoyed with Urosia again, her flaring eyes glared at Urosia with fury. " It's not easy and I won't say it is, but you'll have me dead in your arms before you ever come close to getting my Master's message to pass my lips."

That was, obviously, becoming more and more clear to Urosia.

" And you'll all be killed if you go home! Now, I don't know about all of you, but I would rather be mysteriously never seen again then put my entire family through hell by coming back a failure!" that she addressed to all of the men with Urosia.

This Urosia could see, was bad.

She was actually encouraging his men to turn from his command. Those cards she'd had had been played very well, and Urosia couldn't deny that. The majority of the men that would be in the regular cavalry were men whom where young and fearless. These young people were targeted for recruitment because of this.

However, this was a double edged sword in Urosia's current situation. Because the majority of them were so young, they were willing to be men that would travel around a lot to where ever they may be needed. That meant the vast majority of them had nothing tying them down back home.

For that reason, some were willing to be the heroes among their fellows and make the sacrifices needed to protect their country. At the same time, it also meant they had no reason to fight a losing battle. Not to mention the fact that those men would also be the most willing to start over even in a land far from their birth place.

That was exactly what happened too. A good number of men saw the logic in Aaron's words. They understood what was happening, and Urosia couldn't say that he totally disagreed with them either. He was single and looking for adventure even in his later years. At this point he'd given up settling down and was now just out to prove himself and guide his men.

Then again, a good many of the older men where lined in Urosia's ranks as well. These were men that could not so easily settle in a new place. They were the ones who's families lay in the land they'd left all those miles and miles away from this island of Araluen, some with young children they wished to see grow up and become good men and women of their nation.

To be told to leave them was something they simply couldn't do or wouldn't do in some cases.

Still others had lovers back home awaiting their return. There a good number of men that led their horses away from the battle in a neutral place to stay and watch.

" Sorry, sir," said one to Urosia," but we aren't willing to die for something like this." with that, they were gone.

Urosia said nothing to stop them. No matter if he was their commander or not, it was their decision to follow his orders. This failure was his, and he planned to take it all on his shoulders because these men would turn from him like this so easily.~~

What next? Who knows?! Well, I know, but I'm not telling!! All I'm going to say is that it should be exciting!! Please don't kill me for taking so long to update!!! T___T I apologize profusely!! ToT Please review!! Then tell your fanfiction friends about this story and have them read it too!! Well, you don't have to, but I would appreciate it!! ^^ Bye for now!!


	32. Aaron's Survival!

So, it's been for fucking ever since I've put up anything on fanfic. School has been hell, and between working and track, my times been devoted to trying not to fail. Awesome, right? Not to mention that around Easter time my computer hard drive decided: " Hey! This would be a good time for me to crash and burn!!"

Needless to say, I was none too happy about that. Anyways, I'm trying to get back into writing my stories, so stay tuned. Now, on with the story.~~~

An older officer that Urosia was more familiar with came forwards on horse back with many of the older men among his men. Urosia neither turned now glanced over at them, keeping his proud shoulders held high and unchanged. " Sir." the man said firmly, and still Urosia didn't look over at him.

" None of you would leave me so easily?" he murmured the question to the men that were still around him. The man next to him gave a firm nod of his head to Urosia with a sound of confirmation.

" Aye, sir." he answered firmly and without a hint of hesitation. " Nor will we be persuaded by someone like her, sir." Urosia was silent a long few moment.

" Aye." finally came his reply to the man.

The world whirled around and around. With a shake of her head, the dizziness in Aaron's eyes stilled only slightly. She muttered Gallican curses under her breath. With the constant pain, lose of blood, and fatigue now settling in on her, it was getting hard to keep her world from twisting and turning in all directions. This couldn't continue like this for too much longer and she could feel it seeping into her bones with each staggering breath she took.

However, there was just no way for her to get out of this one. With each man that came at her the pain grew more and her movements become clumsy and weak.

Finally, one man managed to slash a gash into her upper right shoulder. She hardly felt it because this was her injured arm that was now fully numb to everything that hit into it short of breaking her arm altogether. This time when she fell, it was completely, laying flat out with her face in the dirt.

Closing her eyes, she might have liked to stay down like this if not for her survival instincts forcing her to her feet even with her every muscle screaming in protest. If she stayed laying down she was sure to die no matter if any of Urosia's men actually dealt a killing blow or not. The blood lose from her increasing wound count could take care of that.

Finally she was thrown into the dirt again.

" This is nonsense, Aaron!!" Urosia's voice echoed in a tone that sounded some what farther away then it should've been from where Aaron was at. " You can't keep fighting forever! This is the end! Just give up!!"

She huffed and puffed, panting hard with her face in the dirt still. Eyes closed, Aaron couldn't help wondering a few messy thoughts until her brain finally sent a clear thought that she could understand.

Get up.

Her body followed the only clear sentence that rang in her head like a bell, pounding away in her skull. Can't fall asleep now, or she would die. Her brain sent the message to the rest of her body, and slowly, with the worst of efforts, she managed only to roll over onto her back.

" Shut . . .up . . ." she said, though it wasn't loud enough for Urosia to hear what she was saying.

HISS!!

THUNK!!

Urosia about leaped out of his saddle he was startled so badly. The sounds of arrows swishing close by them caught those that had decided to fight off their guard. Glancing around, no one could find where exactly all of the arrows were coming from.

None of them saw anyone close by, and the arrows seemed to be coming from all directions.

From the right, left, side, it didn't matter. There was just a large mass of confusion and fear that gripped the men. Soon the ones that had backed out of the fight previously rejoined their comrades, doing their best to defend there own from an unseen enemy they didn't see themselves either.

It wasn't until too late that they finally did see one of their opponents.

Out he road, straight to Aaron, helping her to her feet, then simply gathering her right up into his arms and onto his horse under the cover arrows that still appeared to Urosia and his men, to be surrounding them. Quickly as he could get his brown bay horse to go, he road away with Aaron!

" After them!" Urosia called, and a uniform yell was shouted in reply to him. Then they struggled to hurry after the form that had taken Aaron away from this. No matter any disagreements they had, Aaron was still the cause of this whole thing. They weren't going to let her out of this so easily.

And Gilan did ride away as fast as Blaze could carry the two of them at once. They would be cutting it pretty close, but Gilan had faith in Blaze's speed. Still, he ushered her along as best he could while looking after Aaron still.

" Go, go!" he whispered, tensely. The horse's side gave a mild twitch, but Gilan got what Blaze meant. I got it already, jeez. . . So, Gilan turned his attention back to Aaron.

" Aaron?" he panted, softly over his shoulder. Her head rest on his shoulder and only seemed to move with the sway and jolts of the ride. " Aaron? You okay? If you're playing with me then I'm never going to forgive you." It surprised him, actually, to get a response from the threat rather then from saying her name.

" I hate my life." she groaned out a joke. Relief brought a sigh out of Gilan, with a vague urge to smack her across the face for this.

" You're an idiot, you know that, right?" he had to force his voice to stay below a yell, but the volume with which he spoke grew as he talked in. " Have you any idea how worried Halt and I have been and you know what the two of us find?! Your beat up Master and Will babbling something about you staying behind to fight on your own!!" Aaron let out a husky voiced chuckle at this. Gilan was furious about this. He sounded almost like some sort of parent.

" Scold me later, Daddy," she teased softly by his ear, Gilan's face quickly burning up, " I'm kind of tired right now, so you'll have to forgive me for if I fall asleep while you're telling me what a bad kid I am." her voice grew quieter and quieter until she finally fell silent.

Well, Gilan no response to that, so he was silent too. Just then, Halt came galloping up next to him on Abelard, Will and Tug close behind.

" How is she?!" Will had to yell slightly above the sound of hooves to be heard by Gilan. Gilan had no way to answer him, after all, he couldn't exactly tell her condition without actually getting a good look at her. On his other side, Rurin came riding up with Aaron's Master riding the strong stallion comfortably.

" She's not looking too well. We need to get her help fast!" his voice was thick and scratchy when he tried to speak too loudly. None of them were willing to argue with that report, so Gilan began to assume the worst.

" We need to hurry! They'll catch us if we don't hustle!" Halt told them, getting Abelard to get moving even faster so that he was in the lead. Will and Gilan followed, Aaron's Master taking up a position at the rear of the group. Soon they burst out of the trees into a long open field, the cavalry men not far behind them.

" Gray Fox! Coming on!!" Aaron's Master shouted up to Halt, who pulled away to stop Abelard, take aim, and fire. This sent a man spiraling out of his saddle to the ground, and Halt took the chance to ride hard after his group that was getting far ahead with that old White Stag leading them. The old command sure brought back memories. . .

" White Stag, you bastard! Tell me sooner when you need my help!" Halt snapped once he'd finally caught up with the rest of them again. The other man gave hoarse chuckles at the frustration Halt showed him, but shook his head at Halt. Frowning, Halt up the back of the pack again, careful to keep track of the cavalry that followed them after giving a brief sigh. There was simply no helping that stubborn White Stag.

No matter their best efforts the horsemen began to gather in around them from either side. All were made uneasy by the sight of horsemen coming up wide first in front of Halt, and then inching their way up beyond Will and Gilan, only needing to cut off White Stag to stop them in their tracks.

However, a castle had come into sight by then, and they were approaching at full speed. By this point, the foreign horsemen where rushing to entrap them all. If they allowed this small group to make their way to the castle then there was no stopping a full blown battle, possibly a war to follow after that. All of this effort had to mean something! Urosia would make sure of it if it killed him!

Finally, a few horsemen cut off White Stag, who eased Rurin to a slower pace cursing and cussing all the while. So close . . . Almost home free . . .

Quickly, Urosia's cavalrymen fell into line, trapping the four riders with Aaron within a practiced circle of ride worn men. This time there was no escape for them! Now, Urosia finally had them all within his grasp!

But all at once, he found he'd been fooled once again.

Around the cavalry, an army of men at arms had been scrambled together. Despite the late hour and difficulty of all of this, the Castle Araluen knights were ready to spring and fight for their nation and king at a moments notice.

That was what Urosia and his men were met with this night. Strong, healthy, well rested knights in such a great number that it would be suicide to continue fighting.

Urosia marveled at the irony of all of this, bitterly, glancing at the girl who appeared to be sleeping in the arms of the man that had gathered her up earlier.

So close to finally capturing her, and somehow, some way, she had slipped right through his fingers once more. All over again.

He would recall later that this had been almost completely pointless. Like trying to capture the wind with his bare hands. Lovely idea as it was, catching the wind was simply something that no one could ever do.~~~

That's this chapter. I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG TO UPDATE!!!! I BLAME LLLLIIIIIIFFFFFEEEEEEE!!!!!! XP If you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, please send reviews. I do appreciate anything. Like, dislikes, advice, criticism, just feel like telling a random person how your day went. That's what I'm here for. ^^


	33. Resolutions, Reasons, and Explainations

^^; I'M SORRY I TOOK FOREVER TO GET THIS UP! I blame school, and work, and track, and SCHOOL . . . Don't worry, I'm almost done, so I should be updating faster (I hope . . .) anyways, here's the next chapter for you! Enjoy!~~~~

Time moved on and on, ever slowly as could be in Araluen. Even so, there had been a bit of excitement when Rangers Halt and Gilan had appeared with half a cavalry on their tails some weeks ago. However, now the excitement of this had dulled down to nothing, and seeing the mounted men in their oddly designed uniforms was something regular to the people around Castle Araluen. The men were actually well liked by the inhabitants of Castle Araluen.

As one tavern owner put it:

" They are more well behaved then most of the travelers that come by Castle Araluen and certainly were a lot more friendly."

Most of the men stuck together in groups of two or three followed around by a few men at arms or knights from Araluen to keep them out of trouble. Not that they were looking for trouble at this point. There trip had been a long and traitorous one. They were not going to make enemies with the people that were helping them tend to their wounded or giving them food to eat and a place to rest. Urosia took the offer for help and rest eagerly after being trapped. His surrender had been inevitable at that point. It would've been foolish for him to keep pushing his men as he had been anyways.

All of them would be dead if not for this generous offer made to them.

Aaron and her Master were given great care as well. Aaron had passed out for a few days from her injuries and just general exhaustion. Some of the wounds would leave scars and others would certainly hurt a great deal, but none were life threatening.

Although, her right arm seemed to be a different story. The doctors said her arm would never fully heal. From what she did to her arm from her tree jumping adventures and then putting as much strain as she did on the arm when it wasn't fully healed damaged it beyond any body's ability to heal it. There was simply nothing they could do for the arm either. Still, even if stiffly, she could still use the arm.

As for her master, he was a case to worry about. His injuries were horrible. Wounds were infected from lack of treatment, and his body lacked the ability to heal him because it also lacked a great deal of nourishment. Which brings up the worse part of his condition. He was thin, very thin, well, way too thin, actually. His bones were easy to see through his skin, his rib cage very predominate when he stretched in any direction except downward. It was absolutely ghastly to see.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Aaron and her master were apart to recover until just today. They'd organized a little meeting for everyone. Everyone being Aaron, her Master, Halt, Will, Gilan, Crowley, and Urosia. Well, certainly Urosia deserved to know what this whole thing was about, considering now that Aaron's Master was there to tell the message to his two old friends. They would all meet in Crowley's quarters, since he was the only one who actually had a private place where they could talk in peace without being interrupted. Will, Gilan, and Aaron had met up earlier to hang out before going up to the meeting.

Aaron seemed in great health at this point, though she had a significant limp on her left foot and her arm was back up in a sling. Other then a few visible bruises on the clothes that a nice Araleun inhabitant had lent to her while she stayed around Castle Araleun. She was a lovely older woman who tried to get Aaron to dress like a girl. Her attempts were in vain, however, Aaron simply refused to do it. Sighing, the women had given her some of her late son's old clothes she had held onto for safe keeping.

" Really, Aaron," she said only a few hours before when Gilan and Will had come to meet up with her," you would absolutly beautiful if only you dressed like a girl." Aaron had let out a laugh in reply to the woman's suggestion, however.

" Yes, well, I know a few people who would have heart attacks if I ever dressed remotely like the girl I am." She continued to laugh as the woman scowled at her, frowning. " I appreciate what you're saying, Sarah, but I'm more then happy with the way I look now."  
With another sigh at Aaron, Sarah gave a smile and shook her head. Conceding to Aaron for now, she waved farewell as Aaron walked off with Will and Gilan.

" Where are we supposed to meet those old bastards anyways?" Aaron asked now, glancing around a bit. It must have been getting close time to go meet with them, or that was what she was thinking at this point.

" Crowley's quarters." Gilan joked, only getting a mocking frown from Aaron.

" Load of crap that tells me." she said. Well, Gilan couldn't help but laugh, then began to lead them to their destination. Will laughed too, following after the two of them. After meeting with Aaron under such strained circumstances, it was good to have time just to mess around like friends with her.

" How's your arm doing?" Gilan was asking her. Aaron only gave a grunt and a vague shrug at him.

" Not good, not bad. Only really hurts when I try to move it too much." she was answering, easily, as if this was very old news to them both. Gilan nodded to her.

" Any new movement?" he inquired of her, while Will just watched from the background it seemed. Aaron gave a smile and held up her arm.

" Actually the other day, just after you left, I started testing it out again-" she began to say.

" Not again!" Gilan interjected into it, groaning with frustration.

" - and I was able to hold onto some stuff I couldn't before. I think the doctors over exaggerated my injury. Bet I'll have full use of my arm in a week's time."

" Aaron-"

" Seriously-!" the two of them kept starting sentences and interrupting each other so much that neither was getting a full sentence out of their mouths for half the conversation.

Will was more then a little confused, but seeing them as they were, he decided this was one of those times that he'd rather not know what was going on. Although he wasn't totally sure, but he got the idea that this was one those things it was better off not intruding in on what was going on between the two of them.

After some time was wandering about, they finally found the meeting place. Knocking once, then pausing, then finishing by knocking two times, the three of them waited outside until they heard someone beyond the door.

" Door's open!" was the reply. Giving a shrug, Gilan opened up the door.

In they walking, into a small, confortably furnished room. There were many chairs and places to sit set up for the special occasion. In the center was a low table to set drinks and such on.

The older three men had taken the liberty to break out the wine to sip on even though it was only mid-day. Halt, Crowley, and Aaron's Master were already well settled in, and well is exactly the word to use for it. Aaron's Master was sprawled out across an arm chair, leg dangling off the side of one arm while one arm hung over the back of the chair. Crowley and Halt were sitting comfortably, but not nearly as comfortably as Aaron's Master had made himself.

" Take a seat." Crowley offered them, leisurely. Aaron needed no second invitation.

At a run, she leaped into a chair. That also happened to be the chair her Master was sprawled out on. Yes, she jumped right on top of her Master. Before the man could even react, he had Aaron's weight crushing his chest, forcing the air right out of him. Curling over his gut, he pushed her off of him and sat up in the chair.

" Oi! What the hell's your problem, Dove?" he snapped at her then. Placing her hand on her hip, she scowled the worst Gilan had ever seen her scowl at anybody ever before.

" You're my problem, you stupid bastard!" she snarled right back to him, stepping closer to him. " Do you have any idea the shit you put me through to get here? And now you don't even bother to come visit me! GOD!" She throws her arms around his shoulders in a huge hug. " Almost got myself killed for this stupid message of yours, you know? Then you can't even come visit!" she pulled away, frowning still at him. " You got some nerve, you jackass!"

Aaron's Master froze a moment, then, sighing and smiling, he conceded to her.

" Now, now, don't be like that. This wasn't easy for me either." was his answer to her. He made a wide gesture to indicate his unnatural skinniness. " As you might well have guessed at our first sight here in Araleun. You can imagine that the medical staff is practically forcing food down my throat every hour." Aaron contain a snicker to an evil little grin.

" Sounds to me like your back to normal. It was about time you got rid of that beer belly anyways." she said, thoughtfully, getting a hard glare from her Master now.

" What was that?" he spoke with a bit of warning, and she only laughed a bit, falling back into the arm chair beside the one her Master had occupied to this point. After glaring at her another moment, her Master leaned back against the arm of his chair.

Gilan and Will had taken seats while Aaron and her Master had been talking to one another, watching curiously and glancing at each other and shrugging about things that the two did that they found strange.

Once master and student had leaned back in a similar fashion in the chairs across from each other, Aaron glanced back up at Gilan who had taken up a chair on her other side. He turned his head, a questioning look that Aaron knew at this point. In reply all she did was grin at him.

The past weeks had been very interesting for them. All the time that Gilan had spent with Aaron,the past few weeks since they had found her master all over again had been the weeks she had been the most light hearted he had ever seen from her. For all the time that Gilan had traveled with Aaron there seemed to have been a weight on her shoulders that now, after so long, had finally left her. Since she and appeared much less worried and reminiscent then she had been on the trip. It was a welcome change, though Gilan found he was envious of what how close the two were.

" Now all we're waiting on is that oaf, Urosia." Aaron said, lazily stretching out over the side of her chair before resting again. Despite that they were no longer in pursuit of her, Aaron still had some bad blood with the cavalry leader. She was the brooding sort, and didn't see fit to forgive the man for the time being. Well, he'd also yet to offer an apology to her either, making her more then willing to insult him as she saw fit.

" What oaf are we referring to I wonder?" Aaron froze at the new voice entered into the conversation from behind herself. She kicked herself for not being more attentive to what was going on around herself. Smiling, she looked over her shoulder at Urosia, who looked the best she'd ever seen him since the journey began all those millions of miles ago. His brown curled hair was left with no restraint today, gracing his head gently, clean and well kept. His eyes were a dark and narrow as he glared at Aaron for her comment.

" Well, look who's here?" she greeted him, nervously. It was rather embarrassing being caught talking about him like that once they'd finally stopped fighting each other, even if only for a short time. Now that his face was unmarked by the tirelessness of his journey,  
Urosia was actually in his mid-thirties, young for a leader to a cavalry actually.

" Yeah," his voice was thick with sarcasm, " look who's here."

" Good," Crowley broke up the would be fight before it got too far, " now that we're all here, we can get started on what this old stag wants from us." Attention fell on Aaron's Master then, and he sighed, sitting up properly for the explanation.

" Hold on," Aaron began before her master even started to say a word, " I was supposed to find three people. Gray Fox, Black Crow, and Sly Ferret." She looked at her Master. He shrugged at her.

" Yeah, and?" he inquired, not seeing what the problem was.

" If Halt is Gray Fox and Crowley is Black Crow, then who's Sly Ferret?" she asked, clearly not getting why this didn't bother her master that one of the people he'd requested wasn't present. Aaron's master glanced over at Crowley and Halt who both shrugged, wanting to know the answer as much as Aaron did.

" Do you two seriously not remember?" he asked, them, looking more specifically at Halt then at Crowley.

" When the hell did you ever come up with the name Sly Ferret, you Old Stag?" Halt replied to him, bluntly. Crowley only shrugged his shoulders again, opting to keep out of the conversation for the time being. He'd, after all, only become involved at the end of all of this and it was always best to start at the beginning.

Aaron's master pointed . . . right at Gilan!

Gilan about fell over in his chair, it surprised him so much!

" Me?" he exclaimed. He didn't even remember meeting this man before! Well, he'd met Aaron's Master once, but it was one time. How could be possibly remember something from that long ago? Aaron's master broke a grin at Gilan at this time.

" Of coarse." he answered, devilishly, and Aaron gave her master a confused stare, looking him over a minute.

When she looked back at her master, he turned his head, gazing at Gilan. Aaron looked again and then an expression of realization came across her face. Crowley, Halt, and Urosia took to looking too, wondering what it was the master and student were gazing at.

" What?" Gilan asked.

" Nothing," Aaron's master spoke up now, grinning still, " I actually just wanted to see if Crowley, Halt, and Urosia would turn their heads like owls." Both Halt and Crowley turned and slapped him upside the head. However, Aaron and her master began to roar with laughter. They doubled over in their chairs, laughing and flailing all over the place.

" It was the first and only time I met you was when you were still very new. Already, you'd gotten good at moving silently, " Aaron's master explained with a grin at Gilan, " and while I was there you and Aaron went off to play without Halt or I noticing. Worried me sick too, Dove. Ferret was just something I came up with on the spot." he chuckled at the memory too, cheek leaned against the back of his hand as he glanced at Halt then.

" You remember that at all, Fox?" Halt took a moment to think it over until a vague nod finally came from the thoughtful look.

" I do recall something like that happening." it still left him somewhat baffled, but Halt could recall White Stag getting all upset over something during his brief talk that day all those years ago. Aaron's master grinned and waved the matter away.

" If I recall correctly, you seemed fairly distracted by something that day. It doesn't surprise me that you don't remember it very well. " he added a moment later, thoughtfully. " Although, it really gave me quite a scare because you disappeared, Dove. You were still so little, I felt like a horrible parent when you were gone and I didn't even notice. Lucky that you didn't go far or I might have started searching the whole fief to find you."

" Trust me," Halt added," back then he really would've turned the fief inside out to find you." Aaron gave a smile, shaking her head and sighing. Her master was so easily read by these people, and that sounded like him.

" It occurs to me that you nearly did that several times in my earlier memories. Always the worry wort when I went off to go play or something like that." she replied and her master grinned at this.~~~

Well, that's the chapter. Ironically, the chapter is called explanations and I don't really explain anything at all about the story in this chapter. ^^ Awe well! That's life kids! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm glad to see all of these new people checking out this story. THANK YOU ALL READERS! Now please, review! I LOVE 3 LUV REVIEWS! Send me a message! Tell me you like the story or just say hi!


	34. Message

Alright! Next chapter is up and ready to go! Enjoy everyone! XD ~~~~~

" Anyways," Aaron's master went on to say, " this isn't what we came to talk about if I recall correctly." he glanced around at everyone that had gathered, a handful of Rangers and other oddball players in this little adventure that had lasted so long for three of them.  
" We're here to set this thing straight."

" And to hear this message." Will put in, hopefully, getting a grin from Aaron's master. He looked over his shoulder at Halt at this time.

" A curious one, isn't he?" he inquired of his old friend who shrugged and grunted.

" The young are full of endless questions." he replied and White Stag gave a laugh and a nod of agreement.

" Truth be told, friend." he answered, shaking his head. Then he turned his head towards Urosia, the one who seemed the most out of the loop in this conversation and situation. " We'd met before this whole incident if I remember right, Urosia?" Urosia turned his head at this comment, mulling it over in his mind to try and find what Aaron's master was talking about in his memories.

" In that land all that way from here at a special party that I was invited to." to Aaron he added. " It was one where I told you not to bully the housekeepers too much while I was gone, Aaron." Now Aaron thought about this too, and realization passed her face quickly.

" Oh yeah," she grinned, snickering," that was so much fun."

" I had cut down a few stable hands and several housekeepers from ceiling traps. Then I spent the rest of that lovely night apologizing to the inn staff involved." Aaron's master went on, crossing his arms and glaring at her while she giggled on still. " Then I kicked your ass for all the trouble you caused." Aaron burst out laughing more still.

" It was totally worth it." she said to Will, grinning madly and laughing on. Halt was really hoping that Will wouldn't follow Aaron's example. Despite that he liked seeing his old friend, his student lacked some educate that most kids should have at her age. Then again,  
maybe he should've expected something like this to happen from someone raised by White Stag.

After all, he wasn't exactly a person you brought to a fancy dinner. A tavern sure, but a fancy dinner, no.

" The fief baron was having a special event. I'd helped out when things had gotten a bit tough for him, so he invited me to show his gratitude." Aaron's master explained to his old friends waving his hand dismissively. " It wasn't to my liking, but he insisted. Now, if I remember right, you were especially invited to the occasion as well, Urosia." he spoke to Urosia now. Thinking again, he nodded vaguely in reply.

" Baron Kuron, yes, I recall being there, though I don't ever recall seeing you there." he frowned at his lack of memory. Aaron's master just couldn't keep the grins off of his face during this time.

" Well, as you can imagine, I looked much better then I do now. More fit, well combed, and my hair was pulled back, like this." he mimicked what he'd done before. That did spark some recollection in Urosia's brain. Aaron gave a grin too.

" Don't forget the hint of a beer belly." she interjected.

" Reminds me of someone else." Gilan giggled, turning his eyes towards Halt. Halt crossed his arms and glared at his former apprentice, who kept right on giggling like a little apprentice.

" This would go so much faster if we could get the young ones to STOP INTERRUPTING." Crowley put some emphasis on his last two words. Will, Aaron, and Gilan grinned.

" Sorry!" they chimed all together, laughing.

" Anyways," Aaron's master glared at the young ones all clustered together on one side of the room," everything really started way back then." he paid particular attention to Aaron now as he said. " You remember what I told you, right?" Aaron blinked, lost a moment,  
then nodded.

" The message you wanted me to deliver, you mean? Yeah, I remember it, although, I still don't understand what it means." she answered him seriously now. " It's all in codes, right? Like I thought it was?" Aaron's master grinned and nodded.

" You know me too well." he answered, gesturing with his hand for her to go on.

" Well, say the message for everyone." Aaron turned her head at him a moment, but he gave a reassuring face and she thought, searching her memory for it a moment.

" Kurona foru," she began, softly, seeking the meaning while she spoke the words to everyone around her,"kuri ne. Furoa shiniki kana orinaka ro ni. Ka furoa shiniki buni fa ora jakuna. Gushina, vishan ruko. Corin si, corin si." Aaron tried to think of what it all meant in Gallican, but there was a problem. This wasn't all in Gallican, it was in another language that Aaron remembered from somewhere. She just couldn't think of what it was. " Nikura chen ruko era vosaia de Chene."

That's when Urosia suddenly chimed into the conversation. " What do you mean by 'Oakleaf'?" he asked, glancing at Aaron's master for an answer only to get a look of surprise from Aaron.

" You understood all of that?" she inquired, getting an annoyed glare from Urosia as if she had somehow just dealt him some sort of injustice.

" Ufon kuro shura! Don't insult me!" he translated it easily, crossing his arms over his well built chest. " Orfian is the native tongue of my country." That got confused looks from the Rangers and Aaron. Meaning Urosia and Aaron's master where the only two who understood any of this. Crowley turned to look at his old friend.

" Orfian?" he asked, and Aaron's Master gave a mild wave of his hand, as if to dismiss this news from his friends.

" You wouldn't believe me if I told you." he said.

" Try me." Halt challenged, leaning forwards, towards White Stag. Aaron's Master observed him with what seemed like mild interest until he sat up in his chair, lacing his fingers and thinking over in his mind what he would say.

" If I were to tell you that beyond the Eastern Steppe, far from the lands that you both know so well, there are places out there that you could never have thought possible in your wildest imagination, would you believe me?" he put it in the form of a question, as if to make this hypothetical without actually saying so. Halt and Crowley glanced at each other, exchanging looks for a moment. Tilting his head with interest, Halt was still leaning towards White Stag.

" That depends," he replied, carefully to Aaron's Master, " what do you have to show me that what you say is true?" White Stag gave a laugh at this, shaking his head thoughtfully at his old friend.

" Same as always, eh, you Gray Fox?" he said, before gesturing at Urosia. " What other proof do I need then this fool of a man and the men that follow him?" The younger ones among them all were all very confused by their older counterparts. " Urosia, his name by itself suggest something that you've never encountered before, doesn't it?" Halt and Crowley glanced at each other again, as White Stag gave a sigh.

" I digress, we can talk about this later. All you need know is that the language is called Orfian and that it has many similar words to the Gallican language. Oh, and also that our dear Urosia's native tongue is Orfian, of course." he made a gesture for Aaron to continued what she had been saying before. Thinking, she had to remember what sentence she had left off on before going on with the message.

" Ruko ani ukinai kunifi na ushi coverashi, afrin eshi nuni furikinai." she went on, Urosia giving a snort at this comment while Aaron gave a frown at him. He waved his hand for her to go on, as if to say that she should ignore him for now." Okan nunishi."

Again, Urosia let out a laugh, Aaron's Master cracking a grin too. Aaron looked between the two of them, unhappy to not know what this was all about, but still went on.

" Zhei furoa oshi ani shuradu aminashiru. Ruko umini kamino ni omin. Lami hashina jaku canis ke zhei. Shura gashina ruko decis prefanic funa rokunia. Kuf aniki jishin, shura gani ni vishin ruko." she finished, adding on after that. "The rest I understood completely. Master said:

Black bird, you know what to do, I'm sure you can make this work.

Fox, your guidance would be much appreciated.

Ferret, be a friend, would you?"

With that she was silent. What could all of this mean? It was a mystery to everyone except for Aaron's Master and Urosia, who were both very still and quiet now. Urosia glanced over at Aaron's Master, his facial expression hard to determine at this point.

" That was what the message was?" he asked, quietly, and Aaron's Master gave a brief nod to him. Urosia was still, almost as if he were stunned by all of what was said. " Then all my men . . .? For nothing . . .?"

" Not so." Aaron's Master replied, giving Urosia a pitying look. " The one who sent you thought that I would be sending out inside information on your country. Rightly, as I do have that information within the confines of my mind." Urosia listened, still seeming dismayed by all that he had heard thus far. " I would use it against you. That was why I sent Aaron away with the message. Honestly, I suspected when you first attacked that you would kill me for what I knew." "

By the time I realized what was going on it was too late. You wouldn't have believed me if I'd told you what the message was by that point, though I did try if you recall." he pointed at Urosia, who gave a nod to this point. He hadn't believed this man. Now it was far too late to make things right. Far, far too late. " I'm sorry." he gave Urosia an apologetic pat on the back.

" So am I." Urosia answered, shaking his head shame-faced. " Though I may never face those men out there again for this." Aaron's Master could offer no kind words to that. That was an answer Urosia needed to figure out on is own. There was nothing he could do for the man but give him an encouraging smile.

" What does it all mean?" Will could hold back his curiosity no longer. Eyes fell on him, Halt giving a sigh of dismay while the Crowley, Aaron's Master, and Urosia gave laughs at his question.

" Would you like to translate for us, Urosia?" Aaron's Master gestured the horseman, who turned his head at Aaron's Master in question. " I'm sick of saying the same words over and over again." With that he fell back, yawning and looking up at the ceiling. Urosia watched him for a moment, then seemed to understand what he was getting at after thinking it over a bit before beginning.

" Kurona foru, kuri ne. Furoa shiniki kana orinaka ro ni. Ka furoa shiniki buni fa ora jakuna. Gushina, vishan ruko. Corin si, corin chen ruko era vosaia de ani ukinai kunifi na ushi coverashi, afrin eshi nuni nunishi. Zhei furoa oshi ani shuradu aminashiru. Ruko umini kamino ni omin. Lami hashina jaku canis ke zhei. Shura gashina ruko decis prefanic funa rokunia. Kuf aniki jishin, shura gani ni vishin. Black bird, you know what to do, I'm sure you can make this work. Fox, your guidance would be much appreciated. Ferret, be a friend, would you?" he recited what he had heard Aaron say before translating for them all.

" 'Dear Friends, greetings. White creatures have found you. Yes, white creatures is what you heard. Doves are lovely. Please, care for her. Listen, Listen. You'll find her very useful for Oakleaf. She is smart and very resourceful, despite that bad language. My bad. This white dove is my student. She will serve you well. Much thought has gone into this. I believe she needs a single place to live. For that reason, I beg you to care for her." with that Urosia fell silent while the others digested what was said. Gilan understood the gravity of what all of these words meant. He looked over at Aaron uneasily.

Aaron's face showed that she was deep in thought. She bit her lip ever so slightly, keeping her eyes away from anyone else's as much as possible. Meaning her eyes were on the ground. Aaron's Master avoided all eye contact as much as possible as well, looking up at the ceiling instead though. He seemed almost embarressed by all of this really.

" You lied to me, you bastard." she said, suddenly, drawing her Master's eyes now.

It had gotten every ones attention as she glared over at her Master, who sat up only slightly with a questioning look in his eyes.

" Eh?" he finally asked her, not sure what she was getting at.

" After you gave me that message, you remember what happened, right?" her master had to take some time to search his memory for what she was talking about before recalling what had happened. " You told me everything would be fine then! Then you just sent me off, not even telling me you were expecting to die?" getting to her feet, she stomped her foot at him. Aaron's Master avoided her gaze.

" Uh . . ." he didn't say anything to this.

" JACKASS!" she snarled, punching him in the face so hard he toppled right over the arm of the chair completely onto the floor. Clenching her fists, Aaron's eyes flared with anger and frustration. " What the hell is wrong with you? You can't even tell me the honest to God truth when you're almost positive you're going to die? That is the most fucked up thing I've ever heard in my life!" Sitting up, now Aaron's Master got to his feet as well.

" You're not stupid, Aaron. I already knew you could figure out I would be dead-"

" Then why didn't you just say so?" she interrupted him, still speaking very loudly.

" Because you wouldn't have left otherwise!" Aaron's Master had raised his voice level to be louder then her's now. Everyone else just sort of sat back and watched this all play out in front of them.

" At least I wouldn't have spent this whole time wondering if you were actually fucking dead or being a sneaking ass bastard somewhere without me!" she screeched back.

" Well excuse me for trying to keep you alive-!"

" Then forgive me for giving a damn about you!" she said, both of them up in each others faces now.

Forcefully, she shoved him back, then turned away from him. Frowning, she crossed her arms over her chest and didn't look back at her master. She didn't need to see his dismayed face to know what he looked like right now. Most likely his shoulder's were sagging slightly and he was looking at her with a hopeless puppy dog eyes with the slightest hints of frustration on his shaggy features.

" Aaron-" he said, sounding a bit irked.

" What?" she snapped lightly back. " I'm mad at you." Aaron's Master watched her with a surprised expression on his face. That was the most up front she'd ever been with him about her feelings. " All this time as your student, and you still can't tell me when you think you may never see me again? It's frustrating." she let this settle in the air, still not looking back at her master. White Stag gave a sigh, coming up behind her and placing his hands over her eyes.

" Yes, as a student that would be frustrating. As your guardian, though, I have to reassure you when things get frightening." he explained to her, as she was having a good look at the palm of his right hand. " That's what a parent is supposed to do." There were a few moments of silence that went by again, Aaron still with her eyes still blocked by her Master's hand. After a time passed, she gently moved his hand from her eyes, holding it in both her own for a bit, examining the marks on his palms.

" As long as we're all clear that you are the worst teacher ever, I guess it's okay." she agreed, still not meeting his eyes. To that Aaron's Master gave a sigh of relief followed by some chuckling.

" I can deal with that." he answered with a smile. Then they both take their seats again. Gilan just kind of stared at all of this.

" So basically," he began, slowly, all eyes falling on him now, " all this time and effort we went through, risking our lives and everything, was just over a request to take Aaron under the wing of the Ranger Corps?" Everyone was silent for a moment, thinking this idea over for a long time. Then, Aaron's Master finally broke out into laughter.

" Yeah, that about sums it up." he just kept on laughing like crazy. Somehow, this seemed to be the most hilarious thing to Aaron's Master.

Like somehow this made everything comical:

Many of Urosia's men died, not to mention Gilan and Aaron nearly died in the attempts to keep this message safe. It was suddenly funny that all this happened because some old man was asking his old war buddies to take care of his student.

" Way to be a waste of my life, Aaron." Gilan said to her now, a frown of frustration on his face. Looking at him, she had a hurt expression on her face as she met his eyes. Then, she seemed to catch the glint of his eye, and relaxed a bit.

" Well, sorry!" her voice was thick with sarcasm now. " If somebody didn't insist on getting involved in my business, maybe he wouldn't have wasted his life on me, hmm?" then she went on, snorting at him obnoxiously.

" The lot of you wasted my life, so shut up." Halt chimmed in now, keeping his straight Ranger expression on like always. This caused a bit of laughter from the younger people, Halt's face never twisting an inch from the set one he wore for his Ranger work.

" You only managed to waste a few hours of my life." Crowley just couldn't keep out of this one. It just seemed too interesting not to be apart of the conversation.

" Be glad for that. All this bull shit just to find out we're going to have some chick mooch off of us," Halt shook his head, disappointed, " how stupid!"

" Seriously." Aaron agreed with a grin on her face. " Have you ever heard anything more retarded then that?"

Then, suddenly, they were all laughing. It wasn't like saying all of this had changed anything. On the contrary, they were all well aware of the situation.

It wasn't as if this was all that funny either.

Even so, they laughed and kept on laughing for the longest time. So much so, the majority of them were rolling on the floor laughing,  
holding their sides with tears threatening.

It was such pointless laughing too. Completely pointless.~~~~~

I've got to say, I think that's that's one of the most unusual chapter endings I've ever made. I mean, what the hell, right? Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm updating faster these days! YAYS! Now please send reviews! I enjoy them. You don't have to say anything really big or interesting either. Just let me know you're reading and that I should update or something like that! Thanks for reading everyone! XD


	35. End and Beginning

Alright! Once this chapter is done, there's only one more chapter I've got to put up. Don't worry, many of you don't appreciate cliff hangers. I don't appreciate cliff hangers in stories myself, honestly. So, in light of that fact, I'm going to post this and the last chapter all together. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the ending, so please read on. ^^~~~~

After that, things were very peaceful for them. Although, not everything was settled quite yet. Once the conversations had ceased, Gilan, Aaron and Will were waved away by the older men. The older folks had much to talk about, now that Aaron's Master had given an interesting bit of information for Halt and Crowley to chew on, so to speak.

Days passed on and on, finally allowing the difficult matters to be sorted out with time.

For Urosia and what was left of his cavalry, the majority opted to return to where they'd come, all those millions of miles away. Urosia had offered to go back alone, but almost all of his men had protested this. Then he also offered, instead, to tell their leaders of their failure. Once more, his men proved to be as loyal as men can come. None of those returning with him were willing to let him take the heat for this mistake alone.

It took much time and effort from all of the men from both Araluen and from Urosia's cavalry to get everything ready for their inevitable departure for home. First it was a matter of simply getting Urosia's men to full health. Once that was done, these men all needed provisions, a means to cross into Gallica with their horses, and a multitude of other things to get them to where they were headed.  
Thankfully, the people of Araluen were more then willing to help they're guests from a far away land. The politeness of Urosia's cavalry had earned them a special place in the hearts of the people around Castle Araluen in particular. Many were more then willing to put in the time to help them back to their homes and families.

When finally the time came for them to depart across the Narrow Sea, the cavalry men were refreshed and more then ready for their long days of riding to come. As for Urosia, he was found leaning against the side of the boat, watching the shoreline as they shoved off for home. Taking a deep breath of the salty air, he stroked his stallion's neck to ease the poor creature's mind. A boat was no place for a horse, but it couldn't be helped. A smile creased his face when he gazed at the stallion very proudly, before searching the shore again.

" All that time chasing her," he said to himself and his stallion now, still watching the land slowly get farther and farther from his sights, " and she doesn't have the decency to come and give a formal farewell to me. We'll never meet again, I'm sure." he added, turning his back to look on the deck at his men instead now. " What a little bitch she is, that Aaron."~~

There was another dilema that kept Aaron from saying her final farwell to Urosia. This she deemed far more worthy of her time then dealing with the man who had hunted her down. After all, they didn't exactly like each other. When all was said and done, they hadn't really gotten over the facts that had happened to them before, even if Aaron's Master did take things so lightly as that.

That was actually what was on her mind as she sat on a roof top that same day that Urosia was leaving. Her Master. Only the day before he'd had these words to say:

" I'm leaving." the room had frozen to complete silence when he said this. It was at a dinner that the Ranger's had arranged. For a few moments the silence held, all of them too shocked to say anything at first. Aaron's Master took this as an opportunity to explain himself. " All these years, and I still don't feel right staying in one place. Besides, I can't stay here now," his eyes filled with shadows as he added, " after what happened."

Frowning, Halt gave a slow nod to his friend and Crowley wasn't about to protest this either. They both enjoyed seeing their friend again, but there was no keeping a wandering soul grounded, or that's how Crowley would describe it if asked. Gilan glanced at Aaron. She had a carefully set, unreadable expression. Her eyes were glued on her Master, but she gave no hint as to what she was thinking as she looked at him.

" When do you plan on leaving?" she asked her Master.

Aaron's Master held up two fingers, his index and middle finger. " Two days."

" That's so soon." Will commented.

" Are you really up to leaving that soon, in your condition?" Gilan added on what they were all thinking. Despite that his injuries were healing well, he still had a few scratches and visible bruises on him. Not only that, his body still seemed a bit under nourished to be going out and surviving as a traveler. A travelers life was a hard one to survive for any good length of time, and at this moment, Aaron's Master just didn't look up to the task. However, the man scoffed at Will and Gilan both, stomping his foot rather childishly at them as he crossed his arms in defiance.

" Bah!" he scowled with a throw of his arms. " I've survived with much less and in far worse conditions then this! With that little devil tagging along, no less!" he pointed at Aaron or "little devil" as he'd said it. " I'll be just fine, thank you very much!"

Aaron stood there still, Gilan giving a worried glance at her, waiting to see how she would react to all of this.

" I'm glad you think so highly of me, you stupid old dick!" she said, getting right up into her Master's face. He puffed up in her face as well. It might seem rather strange, when you see it for the first time. Actually, this let Gilan give a sigh of relief. Why? Aaron and her Master did this all the time. They bickered more then an old couple out shopping. What made it funny was the more they argued, the longer the name calling got.

For example, at that moment Aaron was saying:

"- You god damn, penniless, shit wearing, huge ass of a mooching vagabond on a good day!"

Gilan didn't dare ask how she had come up with this or how the argument had suddenly led to this comment. He'd missed the conversation leading to these words, and in all honesty, he felt it was better not knowing.

"- Either way," Aaron's Master finally got back on topic with Aaron still up in his face, glaring up at him from her slightly shorter height, " I'll be leaving in two days, no matter what anybody tells me and that's that."

This left Aaron with a bit of a dilemma. What was she going to do now? Go with her Master and travel again? Or stay here and find out more about these Rangers and their work? She needed to decide, and it wasn't going to be any easy pick. Even now she couldn't decide what it was she was going to do. She'd decided some time ago not to worry what was going to happen to herself until after she'd delivered her Master's message.

Well, now that said message was given and over with, she had to pick what to do next.

However, she hadn't been expecting to meet up with her Master again. Not only that, now she had to consider what the message was all about too. Her Master sent her here to become a Ranger. Would he still insist that she does this now? After all, he'd been expecting to die when he'd sent her off, but the message had also said that he'd put a lot of thought into this decision before sending her. Meaning he was thinking about it before he thought his life was in any sort of danger. Aaron couldn't be sure of that fact though.

"GAH!" she muttered to herself, deciding it was time to start thinking out loud.

Placing her head in her hands, she rubbed her temples soothingly before running her hand through her long black hair that she had only loosely tied so that it lay against her back. An entire night of her sleep had been lost to this stupid problem that could be totally avoided by anyone who was twice as decisive as she was.

"If I didn't have time to think about this then I could make a choice," she said scratching her head and throwing her head into the air with exasperation, " but since I have two days to figure it out I can't decide! How dumb is that?"

" Pretty dumb, Aaron." a voice chimed in. Aaron nearly leaped out of her skin with fright. Turning around she wouldn't have noticed Gilan if he hadn't been coming towards her. The cowl of his hood was hiding the majority of his face except for the friendly grin that Aaron knew so well that was tugged across his face right then. Giving a cross frown at him, Aaron scowled at what he'd said as he came beside up beside her.

" I don't remember asking your opinion on it." Aaron retorted, as Gilan cocked his head quizzically to the side, looking around as if he expected to find another person seated on the roof of a spire on Castle Araluen with Aaron and himself. Aaron just went on scowling at him, and he laughed a bit and sat down next to her.

" Troubled as always, I see." he commented, Aaron giving him a dry smile.

" That obvious, is it?" she asked and Gilan gave a shrug.

" After you hang around someone long enough you notice these sorts of things." he replied, easily and Aaron gave a single laugh.

" True, true." she agreed, and a silence stretched between the two of them. " You're troubled too, so don't get all high and mighty with me, Gilan." He glanced at her a moment, and she gave a wolfish grin. " You're so much more friendly when you're not worried about something." He gave a chuckle. That was true, though he'd never thought about it before.

" As always, observant of you." he told her and she gave a small laugh at this too. " What are you going to do now?"

Aaron drew her knees close to her chest, her eyes searching out on the wide land that seemed to go on for miles and miles from here. Even so, Aaron was well aware that the sea lay far beyond them and her thoughts drifted on Urosia for a moment, and right back onto topic again. What she was going to do was the question of the day, she guessed. She couldn't even answer that question for herself.

Gilan was just sitting there too. Not turning her head, her eyes darted to him. The jerk was acting all calm about it, but Aaron knew he was very anxious and interested to hear the answer to his question. There was nothing for her to say, though. No answer to give him, other then "I don't know", but that always sounded so lame and Aaron hated when people said that. She had to say something though! Come on! He was still just sitting there waiting for her, patient as could be despite his curiosity!

Curling up, she started to chuckle to herself a bit, hiding her face in her knees a moment with her right arm dangling off the opposite side of her leg while the other went into her long hair. Looking up again, she moved the hand that had gone through her hair to her mouth and turned away from Gilan, shaking her head.

" I have no fucking idea." she said finally, frustrated with herself as she set her hand back over her mouth after speaking to him. Glancing at him, she gave a scornful smile behind that hand of hers. " I suppose you're here to try and persuade me to stay here, right?" she asked, ruefully. Gilan, however, surprised her.

" What the hell gave you that idea?" he replied, blunt, scowling at her for making such an assumption of him. She kind of stared at him a bit as he explained himself. " Don't count me so low as that! Besides, you're not a kid. Pick for yourself, you little rat." Well, that had been rather unexpected. Aaron couldn't help but stare at him with wide eyes for a bit after he said all of this. " Besides, whatever I said wouldn't effect your choice in the least, right?" Gilan looked at her for a moment. She actually had to think about the answer to his question, though at any other time Aaron knew she would've answered instantly.

" No, it wouldn't." she answered, speaking almost to herself rather then to him, as if it was some new revilation to her. To that Gilan gave a smile.

" I thought as much." he said, being very forwards about all of this.

" Why are you here, then?"

" Is it a crime to wanna be with you for a bit?" he asked, sounding almost irritated with her at this point, his smile having turned into a displeased frown as he looked over at her. Giving a frustrated look at him, she shook her head at him and looked away without saying anything. " This is really throwing you off, isn't it?"

" What gave you that idea?"

" Well, you haven't said that you were going to kick my ass yet, for starters."Gilan teased her with a laugh, earning him a hard shove and a smile from Aaron. " You've also started talking to yourself."

She raised a brow at him. " Yes. Obviously, if I'm talking to myself then this really must be an issue for me." she said to him, sarcasm thick in her voice as she frowned at him, unconvinced.

" Of course." he agreed, so flat, that Aaron was sure it would've been a tone paper would use if it could talk. It forced a shocked little chuckle out of her body.

" Well, shit, don't sound so sure of yourself." she replied, but Gilan just gave one of those friendly smiles at her.

" I'll try not to be." he said, pointing at her while he added. " Although, I give no guarantees on that." They just look each other in the eyes before Aaron just breaks into full blown laughter. What a joke to drag on! There was no end to the sarcastic, biting sort of humor that Aaron and Gilan could share now. Once their laughs had died down into smiles, they looked out and around at where they happened to find themselves now.

The view from this single spire of Castle Araluen was one that was very breath taking, and for good reason. Aaron had picked it especially because of the view it had of the surrounding fief, the forests beyond that, and the sea still further beyond that. They knew it was there, though they couldn't see the waters, by the mild hint of salt on the wind when it blew from that direction.

" Why is it that I seem to find you in the oddest of places?" Gilan asked now, Aaron frowning and giving him a rather befuddled sort of look. He gestured around at the spire they were on with wide arms. " On the roof of the castle? I mean, seriously? Shouldn't you be tired of heights after what you did to your damn arm?" Aaron grinned at this.

" You'd think I would be after that, but here I am." she shrugged her shoulders slightly holding her knees to her chest still, resting her chin on her arms, being careful with the wounded one. " The world looks so much bigger from up high. It's very beautiful." Gilan tilted his head at her, then thought for a moment about what she was saying.

" You feel rather small in comparison." he commented and she nodded agreement with that.

" That's why I came up here. To keep things in perspective." she mumbled softly, as though speaking more to herself then to Gilan for a moment. Her eyes moved away from him, out at the scenery once more, mind drifting off into thought. Gilan let her and was silent for the time being.

This was something he couldn't help her with, though he wished he could more then anything else. Seeing her in such distress as she was in right now, with her hand running through her hair for who knows what number of times it was now, bothered him. That had actually been why he came looking for her. Just picturing her trying to figure this out alone in some little shadowy corner had unsettled him enough for him to start physically looking for her.

Finding her like this up on the spire had given him a bit of relief, but at the same time sent a pang of sadness through him. Alone . . . it seemed like she was always alone to him.

Reaching out his hand, he almost touched her on the shoulder. Almost. Seeing his hand and seeing her, Gilan froze up. At a time like this, the last thing this young girl needed was for him to do something stupid and confuse her even more. So, carefully he pulled his hand away, holding it to his chest for a minute before putting it back at his side.

Suddenly, Aaron got to her feet. Gilan had been thinking so hard that he about leaped out of his skin when she moved. Seeing him jump, Aaron sprouted a grin at him while Gilan looked back with a question on his face. What was she doing was the basic thing his face said.

" Time to change location." she explained to him with as few words as possible.

" 'Change location'?" Gilan echoed, still confused by what she was getting at. Nodding, she waited for him to get up before heading off across apart of the spire. Then she looked back, waiting for him to follow after her. He did follow, wondering what she was up to now. Knowing her, it would be nothing good.

Off they went, across part of the spire, away from the window that they had both used to get on the spire to begin with. That really had Gilan wondering where it was they were headed. It couldn't be anywhere higher up on the spire, Aaron's arm was still a complete wreck, she could barely use the thing. She couldn't possibly be climbing . . . could she? Slipping along Aaron had walked right up to a space between a two spires. It took only a small jump for her to get to the space, and she used her good arm to help her balance.

Gilan followed after, ready to jump to the rescue if something went wrong. However, Aaron was as determined as ever and pressed onwards.

" Bull headed as ever, I see." Gilan said and Aaron let out a laugh, not saying anything more to him. When they reached the last bit of space on which they could walk Aaron stopped for a moment and looked around.

Then she did something that nearly made Gilan's heart stop in his chest. Without a hint of hesitation, Aaron leaped off the edge! She hung, almost in slow motion, in the air for a moment before time sped up and she landed a little unsteadily on a bit of roof top on the right of where Gilan was.

" ARE YOU CRAZY?" he exclaimed when she had stood up straight and looked back at him.

" YES!" she called back, waving at him with her good arm. " COME ON! LET'S GO!" Then she began to head away, off across another stripe of rooftop. Gilan leaped after her, landing more steadily because of his better physical condition and taller form. Then he jogged to catch up with her.

" All of this for a change in location?" he asked, thinking this was silly, especially since they were so far off the ground and jumping around like squirrels. One wrong move and they were splatter on cobblestone. Aaron was already looking at something else though, getting ready to be on the move once more. Gilan took one look and knew what she was thinking, quickly grabbing her before she could get far enough to actually attempt her newest stunt.

" No way!" he said, dragging her back down from one of the ledges that she was about to climb onto. " No more of this adventure time ontop of the castle! You'll get yourself killed jumping around on the spires and trying to climb the flag poles!" Moaning with frustration at Gilan, Aaron was forced back down to the level he was on, crossing her arms.

" Come on! I can do it!" she insisted.

" Your still injured!"

" Only a little bit!"

" You only got let out of the infirmary here a few days ago!" Gilan said, scowling at her for being so careless.

" So? What's your point?" she said, putting her good arm on her hip as she glared defiance at him all the while. Shaking his head, Gilan rubbed his temples, trying to think of how best to get the girl to listen to him.

" How are you ever going to heal?" he wondered, half talking to himself.

" Ah, come on, just relax and live a little, huh?" she told him, meeting his eyes with a smile on her face. Aaron looked the same as she always did, those tired blue eyes of her giving those faint hints of her hidden trouble making intents. Looking at her like this . . .

Finally, a sigh escaped him.

" I'm seriously going to regret this, aren't I?" he asked, and Aaron laughed and grinned at him about that.

" Probably, but come on! This way!" she grabbed him by the arm and led him away, back up onto the ledge where they proceeded to start climbing up the spire. " It's not much further!  
Just up here!" she explained, crawling on all fours, struggling with her injured arm a little bit as they went along.

Once the angle took a turn for the worst, Aaron stopped, turning and sitting down where she'd come to a halt. She grinned down at Gilan as he closed the gap between the two of them and sat down beside her. From here, the view was just as good as the one that they'd been at before, in fact, maybe even better if that was possible. Here you could make out the people that were walking around in the fief, looking like small, colorful ants that interacted with one another at this height. One small spire interrupted the grand landscape scene, a flag flapping brilliantly in the wind.

" Wow . . ." Gilan murmured to himself, Aaron letting out a little giggle.

" Worth it." she said, taking her eyes off of Gilan at the moment and turning them to the scene that she'd discovered only the day before. " Totally worth it." she sighed, still thinking of her decision for the time being. Gilan turned his gaze back to her, concern returning to his face.

There was a long time where they both just sat there, looking on as the fief was going about it's usual day of work and play. Gilan took to looking at the fief, trying to keep his eyes off Aaron to attempt not to worry about this himself. It was failing miserably. Uh . . .

While trying to avoid looking at Aaron, he'd missed the way her eyes had started to brighten. Little by little, she began to appear a bit more happy until she was sitting up straight, looking out at the fief while taking side glances at Gilan in the meantime.

Finally, she stood up a bit unsteadily and stretched, drawing Gilan's attention.

" I think I know what I wanna do now." she said, not meeting Gilan's eyes for a moment.

He quirked a quizzical sort of brow at her, curious now.

" Oh?" he asked, and all she did was smile at him.~~~~

Yeah. That's this chapter for you. Hope you enjoyed. Don't worry, the next chapter is coming at the same time as this one. So just head on to the next chapter. Reviews are welcomed and encouraged though! Thank you!


	36. Love

And here we are! The final chapter. I'm still deciding if I want to make a prequel to this story, telling about the one day when Aaron and Gilan met for the first time as kids. What do you think? Should I do it? Most likely I will, but I'm curious about what my readers think of the idea.

Oh yeah! I'm also sending a shout out to my long time reader jesi ki kage! I meant to do this sooner but never really got around to it til now. Thank you so much for sticking with the story and all of the encouragement along the way. Just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate it. ^^

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my story. Hopefully you don't feel like it was a waste of your life. It was really worth it for me.

Now, without any further delay, this is the last chapter. ~~~~

The day came when Aaron's Master would say his farewells. He was off, given a horse by Urosia before the cavlary man had left with his men. Aaron's Master was going to catch a boat too, heading back over the Narrows back into Gallica and heading towards Toscano to the south and from there, who knew?

That same day Halt and Will were headed back to Redmont Fief. Halt had something along the lines that now all of this nonsense was said and done, it was time to get back to the fief, and start training Will once again back home. Will, though sad to have to say his goodbyes to Aaron, had to agree with him. There was work to be done, and things couldn't stay like this forever. So, it was back to Redmont.

As for Gilan, well, it was back to his fief as well. Yep, back to good old Meric. It had seemed like an awful long time since he'd actually been home, now that he thought about it. Well,  
he'd just been coming back from dealing with a few robbers when he'd stumbled on Aaron, so really it had been quite some time since he'd last been home. Well, it was back to a normal schedule for him, he thought dismally.

But the winds of change had begun to blow and there was no stopping them now.

" Come on, Rurin!" Aaron hollered, causing Gilan to glance over his shoulder, surprised to see her. Tugging lightly at the ruins, Blaze froze in place as they waited for Aaron and Rurin to join them. Moving at full pace, Aaron had to pull hard on the ruins that where on her black stallion now to bring him to a stop. Coming down off of Blaze, Gilan looked at Aaron with great confusion on his face as he walked over towards the big stallion.

" Aaron-?" he managed to ask before Aaron catapulted off of Rurin's back onto him! They toppled to the ground because she'd put so much force into this little attack, knocking the wind right out of Gilan. He coughed for a second, managing to take a breath as Aaron hurried to get off of him. Once she was sure he'd caught his breath, however, she had another surprise for Gilan.

Leaning, carefully, she pressed her lips to his. Shocked, Gilan didn't respond for a moment. However, he recovered quickly, closing his eyes, kissing her back. They parted after another moment, both able to see the others face turned all shades of red and pink. Aaron broke to a very embarrassed grin and a little low laughter as she was on all fours above Gilan. All he could do was look up at her from the ground, as lost as lost ever got about what was going on.

" I decided." she said, kind of simply, still looking terribly embarrest, giving her shoulder a mild little shrug. " There were a few things I had to pick up from Crowley first, and I had to say good bye to my Master too or I would've been here much sooner-"

" Aaron, I didn't even know what you were-"

" Of course not! I wanted it to be a surprise!" she snapped a little at him, annoyed that he wasn't expressing the same excitement that she was at this point. He was just so confused about what was going on, he couldn't find it to be excited until he understood what was going on.

" Well, I'm sure surprised." he chuckled a little, breaking to a smile. Aaron was still frowning a little bit ago. Gilan didn't sound quite convincing enough for Aaron's liking.

" Happy, surprised, or hell no, surprised?" she persisted, stubbornly of him. Looking Aaron in the eyes now, Gilan could tell that despite the childish sounding sentence, she was being very serious. Giving a sigh, he reached out his hand, sitting up and putting his arm around Aaron's quivering waist. Straining herself when she was injured again. This girl . . .

" Definitly a happy, surprised." he told her, using his free hand to brush her cheek ever so gently, her face regaining the pinkish tinge that it had lost during the conversation.

Smiling, he leaned, a little hesitant, before kissing her softly again. She responded right away, eager, almost hungry in a way. It was as though she'd been starved, and was only now able to get any satisfaction. As they parted, Gilan smiled at her, keeping his arm around her waist even as they stood up, trying to help support her unsteady form.

" What am I gonna do with you?" he wondered aloud, shaking his head and giving a sigh. Aaron sprouted a grin then, quiet out of embarrassment for a moment. Looking her over a little, Gilan began deducing what had occurred. " So, I'm to assume that you've decided to join the Rangers?" Nodding, Aaron seemed to just realize something when he mentioned the Rangers Corps.

" I forgot for a minute." she said, digging into one of the saddle bags on Rurin for something. Gilan guessed that because she was a Ranger as of now, she'd been told to use saddle and ruins from now on. It didn't look the stallion quite liked the arrangement, but he seemed to be tolerating it well enough for the moment. Coming back over, Aaron handed Gilan a piece of parchment wrapped up like a scroll and tied. Gilan quirked a brow at her as he took it from her, wondering what this all was still.

" Crowley told me to give it to you the next time I saw you." she explained to him, helpfully. " I dunno what it says, but apparently it's important enough that it couldn't wait."

Nodding slowly to her, Gilan untied the knot and opened the bit of parchment, letting his eyes scan over the page. For a moment he just kind of looked at it, then proceeded to read it a second time. Convinced after reading it two times, Gilan turned back to Aaron who was waiting, anxiously, wondering what it said.

" Apparently, since you are only partially trained, I'm to fill in any of the gaps that were left by your Master." he told her, crossing his arms as he went on. " Meaning that, for now, you've been ranked as an apprentice and will finish what training you need under my guidance."

Frowning slightly at him, Aaron thought about this.

" So, basically, you're going to be my Master of sorts?" she asked, wanting to be sure that she was getting this all right. Gilan nodded at her. " Well then, why the hell did you go through all the trouble to say all that other shit?" Placing her good arm on her hip, she returned his steady gaze with one of her own. They had a staring contest for a long moment before Aaron narrowed her eyes, admitting defeat in the contest as of now. " I'm not calling you Master." she said, finally, going over to Rurin and struggling up onto the saddle. Gilan returned to Blaze, mounting as well before leading the way for himself and his new apprentice.

" I wouldn't dream of it." he replied with a bow of his head and the wave of his arm.

Then he led the way along back to Meric fief.

" So, Teach, you got your first lesson planned out yet?" Aaron asked at some point around early afternoon. Thinking about it for a moment, Gilan came up with an idea and nodded to her in answer, a grin pulling across his face.

" My first lesson will be on how to listen to the Doctor's orders." he decided.

" Oh god . . ." Aaron muttered, already not liking the sound of what it was her lessons were going to be. However, Gilan wasn't done with her yet as his smile turned mischievous.

" The lesson after that will be about speaking properly." he added on, laughing while Aaron scowled at him from Rurin's back, lifting a fist as though to threaten him from atop the stallion. " And after that maybe a cooking lesson."

" No way! I already know that you're cooking sucks-!" and the day went on like this.

All the while, Gilan couldn't help but remember that he had found this girl on some random day,by chance on his way back home from bandit chasing.

It really was amazing, what could be found in the mud and rain.~~~~

There it is! That's the end! Send reviews and tell me what you think I should do next. Or just tell me what you liked about the story, or dislike, if you prefer that. Or just say hi. I don't mind, just send a review! Hope everyone enjoyed! It was fun! Bye for now!

HTHG


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